The Art Of Abnormality
by LittleGee
Summary: This couldn't have gone any more wrong. Community service had so NOT been Georgia's idea. Had she done something illegal? Well...yeah, but that was no reason for her parents to throw her out and her school to expel her. Her life was officially screwed up. She had enough to deal with without getting struck by lightning and developing a superpower she didn't want. Nathan/OC
1. Electrocution Hurts

**A/N- Helloooo everyboooody! I haven't got much to say to y'all other than I LOVE MISFITS! Series One and Two are (obviously) my favourites, hence why I'm now writing my own Nathan/OC fic. Big thanks to It Belongs In A Museum for the story '200 Hours' and also Persephone Price for the story 'Immaturity At Its Finest', as they were massive inspirations for this particular number! If you have time, go and read both of them, they're amaaazing! I've also decided to theme each chapter around a song, a snippet of which will be at the end of the chapter! :)**

* * *

**Chapter One- Electrocution Hurts**

In the words of the fabulous J.K. Rowling, I, Georgia Riches, used to be proud to say that I was perfectly normal, thank you very much. However, I do feel the need to emphasise the _used_. Shit happened, and believe me when I say that I never knew freaky until I started my community service.

* * *

I stared into locker 40, taking in the sight of the hideous bright orange jumpsuit that was basically social- and fashion-suicide made of cotton. I sighed and stripped out of my white skinny jeans, yanking the orange stitched-up mess over my legs. I pulled the sleeves up my arms and stared at myself in the mirror. Fuck no, I was _not_ going to spend the two hundred hours of community service in this atrocity. I ran a hand through my long dark brown hair, accidentally knocking my full fringe askew. Right, time to start customizing.

I rolled the sleeves up to my elbows, leaving my many bracelets on show. I unzipped the front of the jumpsuit down low enough to show the right amount of cleavage, but not so low that I had my bra on show to the rest of the world. I rolled up the trouser legs so that they hung just above my ankles, and wore a pair of white ballet bumps. All in all, I didn't look as hideous as I had three minutes ago.

"Come on, let's move," came the probation worker's voice, outside the locker room door.

"Alright. Yeah, I'm coming!" I called. "Don't shit yourself," I muttered afterwards, slamming my locker shut and heading outside.

The other six people leaning on the metal barriers outside the community centre were literally the six stereotypes you got in a high school.

The first boy on the left was the boy who was the sports star. I wasn't wrong either, as I recognized him from the papers. He had been a running star before he was arrested for something to do with drugs. Next to Usain Bolt was the basic (and I do mean _basic_) gangster wannabe, right down to the baseball cap worn at a totally pointless angle and the gold chains dangling from his neck.

Next to Gangster was a boy with dark curly hair that you could just tell thought he was God's gift to women. He even came with the trademark cocky grin. Then there was the chav. I hadn't realised people _actually_ scraped their hair back so hard that it looked like it might cause them some kind of brain haemorrhage, but there was the proof right in front of me.

Next to Chav was your typical skanky slut-type girl. She was beautiful, there was no denying it, but my God, did she know it. I could tell by the way she kept playing with her hair she thought she was perfect.

Finally, we had a boy who looked so uptight and geeky I was amazed he wasn't holding the latest issue of _Superman_. He had the kind of eyes that just stared relentlessly, and to be honest he kind of creeped me out. But he also looked vaguely familiar. I was sure I'd seen him somewhere before.

"Thank you for finally joining us," said the probation worker as I came out the front doors. "If you'd like to take your place, we can actually get started."

"Sir, yes sir," I said, saluting him, before going to stand in between Curly and Chav.

"This is it," said the probation worker, beginning his 'paying back the community' speech. "This is your chance to do something positive. Give something back. You can help people. You can really make a _difference _to people's lives." _I highly doubt that,_ I thought. "That's what community service is all about. There are people out there who think you're scum. You have the opportunity to prove them wrong."

"Yeah, but what if they're right?" piped up Curly, who had a pronounced Irish accent. He put a hand on Gangster's shoulder. "I mean, no offence, but I'm thinking some people are just born criminals."

"You looking to get stabbed?" snapped Gangster.

"You see my point there!" Curly said to the probation worker, who raised his eyebrows. A phone rang, and Slut delved into her pocket to seize it, answering with a, "Hey."

"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past," the probation worker tried to continue, but was being overlapped by Slut's conversation. "Hey!" he said to her. "Excuse me! Hello, I'm still talking here!"

"What? I thought you'd finished!" she said irritably, raising her hands in a kind of shrugging gesture.

"Do you see my lips still moving? That means I'm still talking!" said the probation worker.

"Yeah but you coulda been yawning, or chewing," said Curly. I laughed, and he gave me a kind of approving grin.

"End the call! Hang up!" the probation worker demanded. Slut totally ignored him and carried on her conversation for a few more seconds before hanging up. Meanwhile, Curly had already christened Geek as 'Weird Boy' and blown a kiss at Gangster, who then threatened to shit down his neck, and Usain had informed us that, "I shouldn't be here."

"Look, we need to work as a team here!" the probation worker said in an attempt the regain control that failed miserably as Gangster and Curly were starting up what promised to be a seriously entertaining fight. "Hey! That's enough!"

"Can I move to a different group?" asked Usain. "This isn't gonna work for me."

"Er, wot makes ya fink that ya better than os?" demanded Chav, in an accent that, for me, totally sealed her label.

Curly stopped irritating Gangster long enough to turn to Chav and scoff, "What is that accent?!"

"Is that for real?" asked Usain.

"Er, if ya tryin' ta say somefin' than yah," said Chav angrily.

"That's just a noise! Are we supposed to be able to understand her?" Curly was clearly looking to get punched by this girl.

"Do ya understand that?" she snapped, giving him the finger.

Curly grinned and put his arm around Gangster. "I think she likes me!" Gangster was not happy with the physical contact and proceeded to try and strangle Curly with his own jumpsuit. The probation worker leapt over and prised Gangster off him. Gangster tried to tear himself from the worker's arms, and Curly agitated him more by doing that thing boxers do when they wave their fists in front of their face. The whole thing was so ridiculous that we all just had to laugh.

* * *

Eventually the probation worker calmed Gangster down, and after telling us his name was Tony insisted that we introduce ourselves to each other. He ten handed us each a paintbrush and a can of white paint and sent us down to the lake's bank, instructing us to paint the benches there. I shared a bench with Curly and Chav, who had introduced themselves as Nathan and Kelly, me and Curly taking the front and Chav taking the back.

We'd been there about ten minutes (and, by the way, I'd already managed to spill half my paint on my leg) when Gangster Gary stood up and spat, "Ah man, there's paint on my cap! This is bullshit!" He kicked his paint can into the lake, the white paint splattering all over the path and stormed off in the direction of the community centre, also kicking an abandoned trolley over in the process.

"Oh, real mature," I muttered to myself. Nathan laughed. I hadn't realised I'd said it that loudly. I heard Slut say to Usain, or Alisha say to Curtis, that she recognized him.

Nathan stood up and looked at Kelly. "So I'm guessing…shoplifting? No?"

Kelly didn't pause her painting as she said, "Don't act like ya know me cause ya don't."

"I'm just makin' conversation," replied Nathan, gesturing at the three of us. "This is our chance to network with other young offenders! We should be swappin' tips, brainstormin'! Come on, what did you do?"

Kelly sighed. "This girl called me a slag so I just got into a fight."

"Was this on The Jeremy Kyle Show?" asked Nathan, totally seriously.

"No it was at Argos," retorted Kelly.

"Oh, Argos," Nathan repeated. "You know what you shoulda done. You shoulda got one of them little pens they have and jabbed it in her eye!" Kelly just stared at him. He turned to me. "What about you, Jugs?"

"What did you just call me?" I demanded.

He pointed at my tits, which, I hated to admit, looked like they were about to burst out the top of my vest. "Look at those. They're massive."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Stop staring at them! And my name's Georgia. If you must know, I got done for causing bodily harm to a minor," I answered.

"You what? Care to elaborate on that?" said Nathan.

"Let's just say I never had a very good relationship with my younger sister. She said one irritating thing too many, so I picked up a baseball bat and decided to see if I could disconnect her jaw." I nonchalantly painted over a graffitied heart on the bench.

Nathan blinked at me. "You're a little bit fucked up, aren't you? Where exactly did this assault take place?"

"The park," I replied. "In retrospect, probably not my best idea, but oh well."

Nathan gave me a really weird look, then turned to Geek, who was named Simon. "What about you, Weird Kid? Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you look like pantysniffer. Y'know," he mimed sniffing a pair of knickers. Charming.

"I'm not a pantysniffer!" said Simon quietly. "I'm not a pervert."

Nathan started making some really weird groaning noises, holding his paintbrush near his crotch and pretending to wank off with it. He moved slowly towards Simon, like he was trying to terrify an answer out of him. I'm sad to say that it worked, as Simon burst out with, "I tried to burn someone's house down!" to which Nathan raised his eyebrows and made a noise not unlike someone pulling the breaks on an old bike.

"What did you do?" asked Kelly.

"Me? I was done for eatin' some pick n' mix," answered Nathan.

Kelly scoffed. "That's bollocks!"

"Yeah, seriously. Pick n' mix?" I laughed. "At least _try _and come up with something half-realistic!"

It started to thunder, and Nathan looked up at the sky. "What is going on with this weather?" I looked up to, and saw the blue sky was quickly filling with grey clouds. Just then, Tony the probation worker came round the corner.

"How did that happen?" he asked, pointing at the splatter of white paint that came from the can Gary had kicked over. We all just looked at him. "I mean, you've been here five minutes," he continued. "Painting benches. How'd you screw that up?" Silence. "You tell me because I've got no idea." Suddenly, a huge chunk of ice the same size as a small boulder fell from the sky, completely demolishing a car behind Tony. We all started, staring at the caved-in roof of the car.

"That's my car!" gasped Tony, pointing at it.

Nathan laughed. "Classic!" Another ice boulder landed behind me, him and Kelly, showering us in miniature hailstones. I screamed. "Okay, so I'm a little bit freaked out!" said Nathan.

"What is that?!" demanded Alisha, looking at the sky. I followed her gaze. In amongst the grey clouds was one massive, jet black cloud that didn't look natural in any way, shape or form. Yet another chunk of ice fell, exploding in a bin next to Simon, who for some weird reason was filming everything.

"Okay let's get inside, everyone!" ordered Tony. "Move!" By now, tons of the ice chunks were falling from the sky, exploding on the concrete around us. Suffice to say, as we ran back to the community centre, all of us were screaming at the top of our lungs.

"Shit!" I shrieked, getting my foot caught on absolutely _nothing_ and tumbling straight down to the ground. As nobody stopped to help me, I had to scramble to my feet as fast as I could, stumbling after the others. By the time I caught up with them, they were already at the doors of the community centre, Tony struggling to unlock the doors.

I joined the others desperately trying to gather underneath the tiny porch, trying to protect ourselves from the ice that was threatening to give us all concussions.

"Come on!" shouted Nathan to Tony, who was trying to find the right key.

"What is happening?" shrieked Alisha. "What is happening?"

"I don't know!" I shouted, covering my head with my hands in a desperate attempt to protect myself.

"Open the door!" it seemed we all shouted at the same time.

"Come on!" Nathan yelled again.

"Open the door!" I screeched.

"Open the fucking door!" Alisha howled.

"_Don't_ speak to me like that!" shouted Tony. It was a ridiculous time for him to be worried about manners in my opinion. But then all of us were flying. We sailed through the air like we'd been set off from a catapult. We all landed in a heap on the path. I landed three centimetres away from lying on top of Nathan, my head cracking against the pavement.

Lightning. I had just been struck by fucking _lightning_. Holy Jesus, how had I not died!? Instead, I felt really strange, and my head felt fried. Urgh, electrocution hurt.

A few more giant hailstones fell from the sky, then…nothing. The storm ended just as abruptly as it had began. We all lie there for a few seconds, trying to wrap our heads around what had just happened. Then we all struggled into some form of sitting position.

"I feel really weird…" said Kelly, sounding dazed.

"Urgnh…yeah, me too," I groaned, putting a hand to my forehead to stem the fried feeling.

"That'll be the lightning," said Curtis.

"We should be dead," commented Simon.

"Why? Why would you say something like that?" I said hotly. "That is the last thing we need to hear. Dickhead."

"A little reassurance might be nice," Nathan suggested, directing his comment at Tony, who had also been struck and was now also on the floor. "You're fine! Lookin' good!"

Tony twitched, and it looked like his face had collapsed on one side. "Wanker!"

Nathan blinked disbelievingly. "Did he just call me a wanker?!" He clicked his fingers at Tony. "Hey, hello?"

"Is everyone alright?" Tony finally asked.

"We could have died, you dick!" snapped Alisha.

"What is it with you guys saying that!?" I exclaimed. "It's like you want us to be dead!"

"Are you awight?" Kelly asked Tony, who twitched again. "Ya actin' like a freak."

"Maybe we should call it a day," he suggested.

"Yeah. Maybe we should," I said sarcastically, struggling to my feet.

* * *

"That was officially the weirdest day of my life," I muttered to myself when we were back in the locker room, stuffing my jumpsuit back on its hook in my locker. It was just me, Kelly and Alisha in the locker room now, as all the boys had gotten ready a lot quicker than us.

I was just tugging my skinny jeans back on as Kelly turned to Alisha and said, "Whatcha say?"

Alisha, who had remained silent, said, "I didn't say anything!" Sensing there might be a sudden full-scale bitch attack, I quickly stepped back into my pumps and vacated the locker room.

When I got out into the hallway, the boys were all standing around, Simon doing something on his phone.

"What're we waiting for?" I asked, taking my phone out of my pocket and checking for texts. Only one, from O2. Wow, I was loved. I sighed and stuck it back in my pocket.

"The probation worker," said Nathan, suddenly throwing himself at the vending machine, trying to knock a can out for free.

"Fuck sake," I said, folding my arms. God knew how long he'd be.

"Alright, Jugs, calm it down," he smirked, still kicking the shit out of the vending machine.

"Do _not_ call me Jugs! My name is Georgia!" I said heatedly. "Where _is_ the probation worker, anyway?"

"I think there's something wrong with him," said Simon, looking up from his phone screen. "It was like he was having a spasm."

"He was probably just faking it, trying to get some compensation," said Nathan dismissively. "Cheap bastard."

"I don't think he was faking it," said Simon.

"And you'd know all about being…mental," Nathan said quietly, advancing on Simon. "Wanker!" As he said this, he pretended like he was having a fit.

"You twat," I said scornfully. "I'm sure Simon's perfectly…well, he seems nice!" I smiled at Simon. I had been about to say 'perfectly sane' but as I looked into his freakish, staring eyes, I couldn't be so sure. Since Nathan had finished his assault on the vending machine, I put my phone on top of it and dug a pound out of my pocket, sticking it in the machine and pushing the button for a Coke.

"Are we waiting for something?" asked Alisha, appearing out of nowhere.

"The probation worker," replied Curtis.

"I'm not hanging around for that dickhead!" she said discontentedly, turning on her heel and leaving. Simon, Nathan, Curtis and I all followed suit and followed her, after I'd grabbed my drink. That was it. The first day of living hell over and done with. Little did I know, I'd be begging to repeat that day over and over again for the rest of my community service.

* * *

_"I know that it's a little bit frightning.  
We might as well be playing with_ _lightning._"  
**- The Wanted, "Lightning"**

* * *

**A/N- So there's chapter one! I hope you liked it! Review, guys! Let me know how you like Georgia's character, and if you have any ideas! I'll update soon, I promise! Xx Gee xX**


	2. He's Gonna Kill Us!

**A/N- Jesus, this is like, THE longest chapter I've ever written, so I'm gonna try and keep them this long from now on. I do not own Misfits.**

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**Chapter Two- He's Gonna Kill Us!**

I walked home on my own, but to be honest I was grateful for it. Today had been…eventful, to say the least. I'd certainly never had a day where I'd earned a charming new nickname, been caught in some freak mega-storm and struck by lightning in the space of about an hour.

I reflected on this as I dug my keys out of my bag and opened the door to my flat. Ah, home sweet home. Well, I supposed. I'd only been living here a couple of months, since my parents kicked me out after the incident with my sister. Still, I'd tried to make as homely as possible, painting each of the bathroom, bedroom and living room various shades of my favourite colours, pink, red and black.

I kicked my pumps off in the living and collapsed on the sofa, reaching into my jeans pocket for my phone. Shit…where was it? Oh, fuck! I remembered now…I'd put it on top of the vending machine when I got a drink before we left…I'd left it at the community centre! Yeah, smooth, Georgia. Real smooth.

Damn it! I punched the sofa cushion in anger and irritation. That had been the iPhone my parents had gotten me for my eighteenth birthday last October! I'd have to find a way in tomorrow morning so I could get to it before the others nicked it. Hey, we were all young offenders, I wouldn't put it past them.

I tried to calm myself down before I had some kind of mega hissy fit. That had happened before, and to be honest I really couldn't be bothered to clean up the broken glass that was the usual end result.

So to distract myself, I got up and started searching around the little kitchen in the corner of the room for the ingredients for pasta bolognaise. It was as I was cooking that I realised the dull, thudding pain at the back of my head. Continuing to stir the mince and sauce with one hand, I put my other hand at the back of my head to feel for a cut or a lump or something to indicate where the pain was coming from. But instead, all I felt was hair.

_Weird_, I thought.

* * *

My alarm clock started its usual 'get the fuck out of bed, bitch' routine at half seven the next morning. I flung my arm out from under my duvet and whacked at it a few times to shut it up. "Alright! Jesus! I'm awake, I'm awake!" I was aware that the pain in my head was still thudding away.

After having a quick shower, I pulled on a pair of black shorts and a low-cut pink t-shirt and shovelled a cereal bar down my throat for breakfast. I shoved a pair of pink Converse on my feet and grabbed my bag. I checked that I'd got my headphones, a book, purse and keys and vacated the house for Day Two of community service, where no doubt I'd have to put up with more lovely comments about my boobs from Nathan.

As I arrived at just gone eight, I wasn't at all shocked to find I was the first one at the community centre. I went up to the doors and jiggled the lock, and was surprised to find that the doors opened without any bother. The probation worker must've forgotten to lock up last night. I ran over to the vending machine and was overwhelmed with relief that my phone was still up there.

My stomach rumbled, indicating that the cereal bar I'd eaten half an hour earlier had not been enough. I knew the food vending machine was kept in the main hall, so I pushed open the door to said hall, trying to decide if I wanted crisps or a Mars bar.

As I squeaked across the room in my tattered Converse, I heard something to my right make a really strange snorting-snoring noise. I turned to in the direction it had come from. On top of some kind of balcony thing was a lump lying on a mattress. The steady rise and fall of its chest indicated that whoever, or whatever, it was, it was alive.

Wondering what the hell it was, I started climbing the blue metal stairs. My curiousness was put to rest when I was confronted with the sight of Nathan fast asleep under a black hoodie, using a bag as a pillow.

I crouched down and gently shook his shoulder. "Nathan? Oi, Nathan! Wake up!"

All I got was him turning on to his side, muttering something about, "Just five more minutes."

"Right, fine, if that's how you wanna play it," I muttered. I leaned over him so that my mouth was literally centimetres away from his ear, and screamed. "NATHAN!"

"Holy Jesus!" he cried, scrambling into a sitting position. He rubbed his eyes and peered at me. "What the fuck did you do that for?!"

"It seemed like fun," I replied simply, laughing at the severely irritated look on his face. "I wanted to see what you'd do."

"Jesus, Jugs, if you wanna hear me scream, all you have to do is ask," he murmured flirtatiously.

I smacked him on the shoulder, hard. "I told you not to call me that! My name is _Georgia_!"

"Alright then, _Georgia_," he said mockingly. "What the hell are you doing here any way?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I said, gesturing at his luggage. "What's up with the bin bags and suitcases?"

"Ah. Me and me mum…well, let's just say we had a disagreement about her, er…the bloke she lives with," he replied, ruffling his hair with his hands and yawning. "She chucked me out, like a cold bag of sick."

"Lovely image there, Nathan," I said, grimacing. "So, she chose her boyfriend over you. Harsh, dude."

"It was all just a misunderstanding. I'm sure she'll be ringing me back today, just beggin' me to come home."

"Of course she will." I rolled my eyes. "So what. You're living here now? The community centre?"

"It's just a temporary arrangement till Mum comes to her senses," he answered, standing up and stretching. "You know, I'd really appreciate you not tellin' the other ASBO shitheads about all this."

"Sure thing. Hey man, the way I see it, we've all got our own shit to be dealing with. Why bother with anyone else's?"

He grinned at me. "Now, if you don't mind, I need a piss, and I should probably call my mum."

"Yeah, yeah. Cool," I said, waving a dismissive hand and plugging myself into my headphones.

* * *

At five to nine, Nathan poked me roughly in the stomach. I opened one eye and realised I'd been dozing against the wall. "Oi. Time to start clearing shit up."

I stretched. "Oh the joys." I grabbed my bag and stood up. I noticed all his bags were gone, but I really couldn't be bothered to comment. "Time to be bored shitless."

I followed Nathan down the stairs and out of the community centre. However, despite me telling him six times that the front door was open, he insisted we leave through one of the windows. He jumped out first, but I was hesitant.

"Oh come on, Jugs, it ain't that bad!" he said impatiently as I struggled up on to the windowsill.

I was about to tell him my name again, when suddenly, as I was halfway out the window, I got my foot hooked underneath the sill, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move it. "I'm stuck! Help me, you prick!"

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "That's not a very polite way to ask."

"Okay, fine." I fluttered my eyelashes at him. "Nathan, I'm stuck. Please could you use your manly strength and help me?"

"That's more like it," he said appreciatively. He positioned himself so he could put his arms around my waist and pushed.

"Ah shit! You're ripping me in half!" I cried, using my hands on the windowsill to push myself. Eventually Nathan did manage to extract me from the window. However, he pulled so hard that he overbalanced himself and we ended up collapsed on the floor, me on top of him, his arms still around my waist, our faces inches away from each other.

"Hello there, beautiful," said Nathan seductively, moving his hands lower down from my waist.

"Fuck off mate. Get your hands off me!" I said fiercely, quickly getting off him and rearranging my clothes.

"Alright love, keep your knickers on," he said cockily, standing up and dusting himself down. "Actually, don't." He winked and stuck a cigarette in his mouth.

"Again. Fuck off." I gave him the finger and headed round to the front of the building. The others were already there, staring at a massive patch of red graffiti on the wall. _I'M GOING TO __KILL__ YOU_, it read.

"Now isn't that just charming," I said sarcastically, folding my arms. Seriously, who took the time to do this kind of shit? Stupid pricky children with nothing better to do with their lives, that's who.

"This is a joke!" said Curtis. "Did one of you do this?"

"Don't look at me cause I didn't do it!" said Kelly irately.

"I'll tell you who did!" Nathan came up behind us, unlit fag still in his mouth. "It's that Banksy prick! There's a hidden meaning."

"Yeah. Evidently Banksy is in Wertham," I said scathingly. "You knob."

"Nah, nah. It's like that monkey policeman with the banana and the Tescos bag!" Nathan insisted, putting his arm around Simon's shoulders.

"Maybe someone wants to kill us," said Simon tremulously.

"Er, why would anyone wanna kill _os_?" challenged Kelly.

"Yeah. I mean, look at us," I said sarcastically, twirling round in a circle like a model. "We're perfect." It was at that point Tony Probation Worker decided to appear and tell us to get to work.

"Have you seen this?" demanded Curtis, gesturing at the graffiti. "Someone's takin' the piss!"

"Yeah, it's terrible isn't it?" said Tony uninterestedly. "All this anti-social behaviour."

"Oh! Is he havin' a dig at us?" Nathan said around his fag, which he had actually managed to light at last.

Just then, Alisha's phone rang, causing Tony to have some kind of aneurysm. "Right! That's it! All of you, just give me your phones! No one's making any more calls today!" He held his hand out to Alisha. "Now! Come on."

"Are you allowed to take our phones?" she giggled, snapping a picture of him. He snatched it out of her hand before taking Curtis' phone, then Kelly's and Simon's. Nathan put up a fight for his, "I'm expecting a call from my mum!" It made no difference, Tony still took the phone. "Okay, take a message!"

When Tony got to me, I quickly said, "I don't have a phone. I'm um…Amish! Yeah. Amish. We're uh, not so big on the whole 'technology' thing." Of course, at that exact moment my phone decided to vibrate with a text, resulting in me obviously getting it confiscated as well. Irritated, the six of us headed inside to get changed, all of us glaring at Tony and Kelly spitting "Wanker" at him.

* * *

"Is he allowed to take our phones?" asked Nathan whilst we were getting changed.

"I doubt it, the power-hungry bastard," I said, shutting my locker and lighting the cigarette in my mouth.

"Yeah. He's probably using them to call one of those sex chat-lines," Nathan continued. Alisha, Kelly and I all laughed.

"Those sex lines will eat your credits," stated Curtis,

"Call them a lot, do you?" bantered Alisha.

"He's out there now filming himself on our phones, naked. Masturbating," Nathan felt the need to suggest.

I pretended to gag. "God, I'd need therapy for the rest of my life if I saw that."

"Lookin' at you, love, I'm amazed you aren't already _in_ therapy for the rest of your life," snorted Nathan.

I turned away from the mirror to glare at him, and came face-to-face with a topless Nathan. He didn't look too bad, I hated to admit…

Nathan noticed me staring. "Checkin' out the goods, are ya?" He pulled a ridiculous male model pose. "Like I said earlier, sweetcheeks, all you have to do is ask."

"Really? That's all? Gosh, I'll have to try to remember that for when there's a zombie apocalypse and only me and you are left to repopulate the Earth," I said sweetly, before snapping, "Get this into your tiny little brain, Curls. It ain't never gonna happen!" And with that I turned on my heel and stormed from the locker room, stubbing my fag out on the door as I went.

* * *

Today we'd been given the task of cleaning up the graffiti off the wall. Well, it sure beat having to scrape up dog shit or whatever else Tony had had planned for us. We each took our own little spot on the wall. Well, I say all. Alisha saw fit to just lay back on one of the tables, jumpsuit stripped down to the waist so she could tan and mouth off about how someone could suck her dick.

The constant preening of herself made me want to cunt-punch her. Alisha was self-absorbed, small-minded and, on the whole, exactly what I had labelled her yesterday: a slut. Apparently this didn't bother Curtis, who was looking at her with what I think he imagined was an attractive face, but just really made him look like a twat.

"After the storm," said Kelly suddenly. "Did any of yous lot feel like, dead weird?"

"Yeah, I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus!" exclaimed Nathan.

"All I had was one motherfucker of a headache," I said, rubbing at the spot it had been.

Kelly turned to Simon. "Wot, did you feel weird?"

"What you don't want to hear about my anus?" Nathan sounded wounded.

"Yeah totally. I can't think of anything I'd rather discuss than your arse," I said with derision. "I think that's more the conversation you should save for your next doctor's appointment. I'm sure they'd love to hear about your tingling arse." He grinned cockily at me for about the third time that day and we continued scrubbing away.

"Something happened," Simon admitted.

"What's that? Squeak up!" That obviously came from Nathan.

"Something happened to me," said Simon quietly.

"Are you a virgin? Hi-hiii!" Nathan put on a ridiculous singing voice for that last bit.

"Shut op!" Kelly shouted at him, causing him to stop abruptly.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's nothing," said Simon, turning back to the letter _T_ he was trying to scrub off.

We scrubbed for about another thirty seconds, until Kelly suddenly threw herself at Nathan, slamming him backwards so that he nearly tripped over his bucket of water and fell into me, knocking me into the wall.

"What was that for?" he cried as Kelly stormed off.

"What the fuck!" I shrieked. "What's her problem?"

"The fuck if I know!" said Nathan, sounding genuinely confused. "Jesus."

* * *

After another half an hour, the five of us decided we deserved a break. Tony hadn't bothered to come back to check on us and, to be frank, we probably wouldn't've cared if he had.

Simon, Curtis, Nathan and I headed into the main hall, where there was a foosball table and a few chairs, and obviously the vending machine. Alisha had buggered off somewhere, and Kelly still hadn't returned from her escapade. Curtis and Nathan started up a game of foosball while Simon watched, and I curled up in one of the chairs with the book I'd brought from home, which was _Angel _by Katie Price. Despite trying to block out the boys' conversation, Nathan's voice had a way of drilling itself into my brain.

"It's a shame more women don't commit crimes. Why is that?" he said. "Still, we did get lucky on the whole." I looked up, wondering what he was on about.

"What d'you mean?" asked Curtis.

"There's three girls, and three boys. Perfect division, my friend. One for each of us! Even you're gettin' one, Weird Kid!" I bristled at his assumption that us girls would just want to sleep with the boys. Dickhead.

"There were four of us," said Simon quietly. He was, no doubt, referring to Gangster Gary, who hadn't even bothered turning up today.

"I'm talkin' about gettin' laid!" said Nathan as though it was obvious. He looked at Curtis. "So how're we gonna do this, man?" I sighed. He was genuinely being serious.

"Do what?"

"Er, hello? He obviously wants you to decide how to divide the three of us so each of you get a shag," I called over.

"She's right, man. How we gonna split them up? 'Cause I gotta tell ya, the one with all the frizzy hair? I don't see me and her gettin' it on."

Curtis snorted. "Because she's beautiful?"

"No, because she'd be way too much effort!" Nathan replied. "She looks seriously high-maintenance! You'd have to treat her really well. Pfft! But that one-" He pointed at me. Oh God, here we go.

"Georgia," said Simon, practically inaudible.

"I am sitting right here! I can hear everything!" I said loudly, gesturing to myself.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nathan said. I rolled my eyes. "Georgia. She's fit enough. I mean, sure she's got one hell of an acid tongue, and she's sarcastic and doesn't look like she gives a fly fuck about anything or anyone," he carried on his description. "But I bet she's one hell of an animal between those sheets. A fiery personality equals a fiery lover." I frowned suddenly. Where had I heard that saying before? "Plus, you know, she's got the whole-" Nathan held his hands up to his chest to indicate someone with big boobs, i.e-me. "-thing going on."

"Get fucked, Nathan," I said hotly, shooting him the V.

He cracked a massive grin. "See? Right there. Fire."

"If you don't shut up about me like that, I'm going to cause you so much bodily harm that you won't be able to walk properly for the next six years!" I shouted.

"Oh, yeah, baby, I like a girl who does it rough," he mocked, blowing a really exaggerated kiss at me.

Unable to stand being in the same room as him any more, I stood up, shoved my book in my bag and stamped out of the hall. As I left, I heard him explaining to Simon how he could have Kelly after a few Bacardi Breezers, the sexist moron.

* * *

Once I was in the hallway, I saw Alisha sprawled along the orange sofa, applying yet more lipgloss to her already over-glossed lips. I stuck another pound into the vending machine for a bottle of water and cracked it open, enjoying the feeling the cold water had on my throat.

I collapsed on the other sofa opposite Alisha. I couldn't be bothered to make any form of small talk with her, as she always seemed to find a way to turn the conversation to herself. Instead, I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it, ignoring the No Smoking signs on the walls.

A few minutes later Nathan came out of the main hall and into the hallway. He winked at me and I responded by giving him the finger. He just gave me yet another cocky grin before he started attacking the vending machine like he had the day before.

Simon came out next, sitting down on the floor near Alisha's sofa and drawing his knees up to his chin, and finally out came Curtis, was putting away the buckets we'd been using before Alisha started speaking to him.

"When I was in Sixth Form you came to my school," she said. That was when Nathan appeared around from behind the sofa in one of the wheelchairs. "You gave this big talk about athletics, and all your medals and that."

"So I'm guessing you're not going to the Olympics?" Nathan quipped.

"Funny," said Curtis bitterly.

"So, what exactly did you get done for?" I asked. "Because no offence mate, it seems like you fucked up big time."

"I heard he was dealing crack," said Alisha.

"What?! I wasn't dealing crack!"

"Nah, that's not it. I heard it was heroin," I put in.

"No, no, paper said it was steroids," said Nathan, who was gearing himself up for tormenting Curtis.

Alisha inhaled sharply and slouched down the sofa so she was laying down. "That stuff will shrivel your dick."

"It wasn't steroids!" insisted Curtis. "I'm not a cheat! That stuff in the papers was bullshit."

"Yeah, so what was it then?" Alisha demanded.

Nathan and I looked at him expectantly. Curtis hesitated, then sighed. "I got caught with a little bit of coke." Nathan tutted, Alisha looked away like she was bored, and I raised my eyebrows at him. "Alright? I messed up one time."

"Nobody gets community service for possession," stated Alisha.

"If it was anyone else, they'd've got a caution," said Curtis. "I get two hundred hours community service and a two year ban from athletics! They said, because of my 'profile' they needed to 'send a message'."

"You let yourself down," Nathan said slyly from the wheelchair. Curtis turned to him, a look of pure venom on his face. "You let the kids down, you let your parents down-"

It was like he'd thrown a bomb at Curtis. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he exploded, grabbing hold of Nathan by his jumpsuit. "All I ever did was train! You know nothing! I shouldn't even fucking be here!" He jabbed Nathan in the face.

"You can't hit someone in a wheelchair!" Nathan said breathlessly. Curtis spat, "Prick!" at him and released him so abruptly that the wheelchair got pushed back about a metre.

I snorted, and Curtis rounded on me. "You wanna say something to?"

"Yeah, actually. Life's a bitch. I get that you're pissed your athletics career's in tatters, I do. But come on, man. Stop thinking of all the past shit and look towards the future shit, because all this?" I gestured around the tiny hallway. "It can only get better."

Curtis gave me a look of, _Are you serious?_ and settled back into sulking against the wall. If it had been a cartoon, you'd have been able to see smoke coming out of his ears. He was seriously starting to piss me off with his 'oh boo hoo, poor me' routine.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, then, "Do you wanna know what I got done for?" from Alisha.

"Not really," said Nathan.

"Shut the fuck up, twat," I snapped at him. "Go for it," I said to Alisha.

She proceeded to tell us the story of how she and some girl none of us knew had gone to a party and this girl had had a spaz attack about some people we didn't know that were doing each other. By this point the boys had all gathered in front of her like kids listening to their mum tell a story, while I stayed put on the other sofa.

"I'm driving us back into town. Chloe's all like, 'I feel sick!' and I'm like, 'Aha, don't puke in my car! Do not puke in my car!' That's when the police pull us over," Alisha was saying. I was starting to get bored by now, as were the boys. _Just fucking get to the point_! I wanted to shout.

However, it was her demonstration of what she'd done to a breathalyser that really caught the boys' attention, all of them kind of cringing their legs to stop their dicks bursting out of their trousers. I, however, actually managed to finally get the gist that she'd been done for drink-driving and attempting to suck off a breathalyser.

She finished her of-so riveting story with, "Now I don't know if this cop is gay or what, but he tells me I'm four times over the limit! That's bullshit! I didn't even wanna go to the party!"

I was about to reply with a snarky comment about how she should've stayed home then, when Kelly burst through the doors, falling to the floor. "'E's gonna kill os!" she shouted.

I jumped to my feet, staring at the quivering, pale wreck of Kelly. What the fuck was she talking about?!

* * *

_"Leaning on one hip with a cigarette,  
Thinkin' your ass is as good as it gets.  
I see you as you are,  
I see you're transparent."  
_-**Porcelain and the Tramps, "Transparent"**

* * *

**A/N- That's chapter two my friends. I'd love it if you'd review! They keep me going and I'd love to hear your thoughts! Xx Gee xX**


	3. How Did That Happen?

**A/N- Hey guys! Here's Chapter Three! Mucho thanks to meganlloyd16 for being my first reviewer!**

* * *

**Chapter Three- How Did That Happen?**

We all just kind of stared as Kelly rushed up to the doors and locked them, exclaiming, "Shit!" as she did so. I dropped my cigarette on the floor and quickly stepped on it the stub it out. I was starting to panic. What was going on?

Nathan, meanwhile, was obviously _not_ worrying as he laughed at her and said, "Nice entrance, very dramatic!" while giving her slow, patronizing applause.

"The probation worker's gone mental! 'E's jost attacked me!" Kelly said frantically. We all looked at her in complete shock. "Somefin' really weird is 'appenin'! I'm 'earin' these voices in me 'ead! It's like I can 'ear wot people are finkin'!"

"Have you been sniffing glue?" said Alisha tauntingly.

"The storm, the lightnin'! I dunno, it's jost done somefin' to us!" shouted Kelly.

"Okay. If you can hear our thoughts," said Nathan, wheeling himself in front of her. "What am I thinking...now?" He put his a finger to each side of his head as if he was trying to force out his thought-waves, or whatever the fuck they were called.

"You fink it's bullshit?!" she declared angrily.

"Course I think it's bullshit, you don't need to be a mind reader to know that!" Nathan scoffed.

"Why are ya in a wheelchair?" she asked him.

"It was the storm!" Nathan put on a voice that made him sound all vulnerable and innocent. "The strange tingling sensation in my anus has spread through my body and now…I can't feel my legs."

"Correction," I said, holding up my hand. "He's in the wheelchair because he's a complete bell-end."

"Cheers for that, Jugs," he muttered as Kelly kicked him in the shins. "Ow! Jesus!"

"Wait. What do you mean, the probation worker attacked you?" Curtis demanded.

"This does sound like complete shit," agreed Alisha.

"Sorry, but it kinda does," I concurred.

"'E is out there an' 'e chased me!" yelled Kelly.

"Something's happened to me to!" Simon suddenly piped up.

"Did you pop your cherry?" Nathan asked in a falsely cheerful voice. "Ah, we're all very happy for you!"

"Oh my God, will you please just shut the fuck up? Just for once!? This is serious, you knob!" I shouted at him before turning back to Simon. "What're you on about?"

"Earlier on when we were in the locker room…I was invisible!" he stated. "I turned invisible!"

"Oh, bullshit," I said dismissively.

"So…she's psychic and you can turn invisible? That seems likely," jeered Curtis.

"Yeah, did anyone witness this miraculous disappearance?" asked Nathan.

"You were all there!" insisted Simon.

"Er, I think we _might_ have noticed you vanishing into thin air!" sneered Alisha.

"You didn't! I was standing right there! You didn't see me!"

_Didn't see him? That's no different to most of the time, _I thought.

Kelly glared at me. "Why ya bein' such a bitch? I fort ya were nice!"

"What? Did you just…holy shit!" I stuttered. She really could read minds! Holy crap.

While this had happened, Nathan had wheeled himself over to Simon and commanded him to turn invisible. Simon leaned his head back and made some really stupid straining noise. Instead of turning invisible, he just looked constipated.

As if this wasn't humiliating enough for the poor guy, Nathan made it worse by announcing, "Oh my God! He's disappeared!"

Simon looked around at us, then waved a hand in front of Nathan's face. "Can't you see me?"

"No," Nathan said in hushed tones, before throwing his empty Coke can at Simon's head. "You're invisible!" Alisha and I both laughed cattily. "You two are hilarious," Nathan continued, wheeling himself towards the door. "Really, keep takin' that medication!"

Kelly stood in front of him and seized the wheelchair arms to stop him going any further. "Don't go out there, 'e will kill ya!"

"Of course he will, cause he's such a badass!" he snorted.

"_Don't_!"

"She's telling the truth!" Curtis declared all of a sudden. We all turned to look at him in disbelief. Oh God, what was wrong with _him_?

"And you know this how?" Nathan questioned, turning his chair to face Curtis. "I suppose you're psychic now, too?"

"All this! It's already happened!" said Curtis urgently, panting. "I opened that door. The probation worker…he killed you," he said to Kelly, who now looked terrified. "You were right there. You were dead. Everything froze. You were all just standing there. Time went backwards!"

"What are you saying, what, you turned back time?" demanded Alisha.

"If I could turn back tiiiime," I sang. Everyone looked at me with various looks of WTF. "Sorry," I said sheepishly. "Not the time."

"This just gets better by the second!" Nathan said mordantly, getting out of his wheelchair and walking over to the door.

"Everything happened again! Exactly the same!" Curtis insisted. "I'm telling you, do not open that door! No!"

"Nathan, don't!" I yelled just as he opened it.

Exactly two seconds after this he slammed it shut, bolting it as well. "He's right! The probation worker's gone mental!" We all screamed as the great hulking shadow of Tony appeared at the door, slamming against it, trying to get in.

We all huddled together in the middle of the room. Fucked. That's what we were. So completely, utterly and amazingly _fucked_. I was going to die. I was eighteen and going to die.

"Maybe he's on crystal meth," suggested Alisha. "I mean, that stuff makes you crazy! My mate Chloë did it, she nearly shagged her _brother_! And he's really ugly!"

"I'm not being funny, love, but at the minute we really don't care about Chloë or her ugly brother!" I snapped, earning me an Alisha-glare. Tony was still outside the door, trying to bust it down.

"The graffiti! 'I'm going to kill you'! He wrote it!" said Simon fearfully.

"What did I say? I said there was a hidden meaning!" Nathan said exasperatedly just as Tony threw himself at the door again. "Or not!"

"Did anyfing happen to yous two?" Kelly asked me and Alisha.

"No!" Alisha said worriedly as I shook my head. "We should call the police!"

"He took our phones!" Simon said twitchily. "He's got all our phones!"

"Fuck everything!" I almost shouted. "It's like he planned this!" It was then that we realised Tony had stopped trying to break down the door, and his shadow outside the frosted glass was gone.

"It's stopped," said Curtis, like we hadn't noticed.

"You dickhead!" Alisha snapped at Kelly. "Why did you come back here? You shoulda gone for help!"

"Wot d'you know, bitch!" said Kelly angrily.

"Shut up, you chav," Alisha sighed, rolling her eyes.

Kelly rounded on Alisha. "D'ya know if ya call me a chav one more time, I'll kick ya so 'ard in the cunt your mum'll _feel_ it!"

"Her mum'll feel it? How does that work?" Nathan seemed to seriously be deliberating on this.

"Look, can we cut to the bitchfest later?" I pleaded. I didn't want to spend my last minutes listening to Kelly and Alisha screeching insults at each other.

"'E tried ta kill me!" Kelly said furiously. "I came back 'ere to warn yous lot and I coulda left ya!" She pointed around the group. "I'm sick of every single one of ya judgin' me, ya can all fock off!"

"Look, stop!" I shouted, still shaking I was so scared. "We need to find a way out of here, now!"

"Whatever!" said Alisha, turning round and running. Curtis and Simon were right behind her, then Kelly, then Nathan and surprise, surprise, I brought up the rear. Fuck me, I hated running. It always reminded me of school PE lessons. But as we rounded the corner, Nathan slipped in something on the floor. He reached out to grab the thing nearest to steady himself, and that thing happened to be me.

But instead of keeping us both upright, I slipped too, and both of us plummeted down to the floor, both of us landing in the puddle of whatever it was. Something red…something sticky…something that smelt of salt and rust…

"Is that blood?!" Kelly shrieked. Nathan and I scrambled to our feet, looking at each other in horror. We were covered in the stuff: our hands, our arms. Nathan started frantically rubbing his hands on his jumpsuit, shouting, "Oh fuck! Jesus Christ! Fucking…get it off me!"

I, on the other hand, just stood there. I couldn't breathe. I just stared at the puddle of crimson liquid on the floor, stared at my bloodstained hands. I felt faint. My stomach twisted and I retched.

"Georgia? Oi, Georgia?" I heard Kelly say as if from far away. "Are ya awight? Ya look like ya gonna spew."

I tore my eyes away from the blood puddle and looked at her. "Yeah. Yeah, I…I'm fine." I followed the streamline of blood up one of the lockers, where it was trickling out of the vents. "Is that locker…bleeding?" I pointed to it before rapidly backing up so I was standing next to Nathan.

Curtis approached the locker tentatively, reaching out and withdrawing his hands a couple of times before finally taking hold of the locker latch. I could hear Alisha behind me. She sounded like she was going to cry. Curtis pulled the latch up and wrenched the door open, backing away hastily as the body fell out. We all screamed.

It was Gary. Poor, butchered Gary who now resembled one of those hacked-at pigs that hung in a butcher's window. Now I really was in danger of puking my guts out.

"I did wonder what had happened to him," Nathan said meekly, repulsion etched upon his face.

The walls started to spin around me as I stared at Gary's limp, bloody form. I was fainting. "Oh God," I mumbled as the room lurched. I grabbed hold of Nathan's arm to stop myself going down.

"Ah! Holy shit!" he shrieked in pain, pulling his arm from my grasp. I stumbled, but luckily kept upright. "What the fuck?!"

"What happened?!" I asked, scared. By way of answer, he held up his arm. There on his jumpsuit, where I'd grabbed to keep from fainting, was a scorched black handprint, smoking slightly.

"How'd ya do that?" Kelly demanded, shaking.

"I don't know!" I shouted, looking at my hands. Was this my power? To test my theory, I placed my hand on the wooden beam of one of the doors. There was a hissing noise, and smoke started to curl out from under my hand. I pulled it away quickly, and sure enough, there was another burnt handprint. I'd literally burned the wood with my bare hands.  
"How did that happen!? Actually, no, this isn't important right now! We need to worry about Gary and the probation worker!" I directed.

"He's gonna kill us!" sobbed Alisha.

"Turn back time!" Nathan ordered Curtis. "Stop this happening!"

"I dunno how it works!" Curtis said anxiously.

"Oh, great! That's really useful!" said Nathan sarcastically.

"Okay, let's not freak out-" I tried to say.

"Easier said than done, Scorch!" he spluttered, looking very pale. It was nice to know that, in amongst all the terrifying shit that was happening, he'd still managed to come up with a new nickname for me.

Alisha, meanwhile, looked like she was going to burst into tears as she stared at Gary's remains. "Come on. Don't look at it," Curtis said gently, taking her hand.

Suddenly, Curtis' face changed. He looked like he was in a trance as he started pulling at Alisha. "I've gotta have sex with you right now!" he said as Alisha struggled to get him off her. "You're so beautiful. Let's go! Let's do it now, raw!"

"Get off me, you freak!" she shrieked, finally getting him off her. The second he let go of her arms, his face fell and he looked dazed and confused.

"What?" He looked at us all. Alisha went to slap him, but he caught hold of her by the wrist, and his reaction to the skin-to-skin contact was exactly the same. "You're so hot!" he proclaimed, trying to pull down the zip at his crotch. "I'm gonna bone you! I'm gonna shag you senseless!"

"Let go!" Alisha screeched, prising him off her for a second time.

Again, the second he let go of her arms he was fine, albeit left with that same moronic expression. "What did I do?"

"Er, ya said you was gonna shag 'er," Kelly stated bluntly.

"And you were gettin' your chap out!" Nathan added gleefully, pointing to Curtis' half-down zipper.

"Honestly, dude, it looked like you were about to force yourself on her," I said awkwardly.

"Shut up!" Curtis gasped in disbelief, looking down at his private area.

"It's when you were touching her," noted Simon. We all stared at Alisha, who, like I had been, was staring at her shaking hands in terror. Before he could react, she pressed a hand to Simon's neck.

It wasn't pretty. All the veins near where she had touched seemed to grow even more purple as Simon twisted his head to look at Alisha hungrily. "I'm so hard for you! I wanna rip your clothes off and piss on your tits!"

"What is happening to me?" Alisha shouted, dropping her hand from Simon's neck.

"Holy motherfucker. That…is so wrong," I said disgustedly.

"You sick bastard!" Nathan said with revulsion. Nice to know we could agree on one thing.

Before anyone else had the chance to voice their opinions on Simon's fucked up sexual fantasies, Tony burst through one of the windows, the glass shattering around him.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. He was making rabid noises like some kind of insane bear. His eyes were wide, bloodshot and full of hatred. Hatred for all of us. He was going to kill us.

Tony threw himself at me. Instinctively, I raised my hands to protect myself, and I ended up closing them on Tony's face. He screamed when I came into contact with his skin, smoke wafting out from under my palms again. He jolted away from me. No…I was being pulled away. I could feel someone's hands under my arms. I looked up, and saw Nathan's green eyes peering down at me. He'd tried to save me.

I looked at Tony, who was kneeling on the floor screeching, two smoking handprints exactly where my hands had been moments before. What was going on with me?!

He lunged for me again. Suddenly, Kelly appeared and clubbed him in the back of the head with a paint can. He collapsed to the ground three inches away from me, not moving. I removed myself from Nathan's grip and stared at Tony's…body?

"What did you do?" whispered Nathan. I looked from him, to Kelly, to the dented, bloodstained paint can, then to the dented, bloodstained skull of Tony. Oh holy shit, this was bad. Very…very bad.

"Is he dead?" Alisha whispered, her voice a few octaves higher than normal.

"Well, I'm no doctor but…you see the way the back of his head's caved in like that?" groaned Nathan.

Tony suddenly opened his eyes, reaching for Kelly, shouted, "Chav!" In response, Kelly started mashing his head in with her foot while shouting, "I. AM. NOT. A. CHAV!"

We stared, wide-eyed and horrified, at the now certainly dead probation worker. Kelly had done some serious damage that meant his head now resembled a flattened cat on a road.

"That should do it," Nathan said weakly, his hands gripping his head.

"Oh, I am definitely gonna puke now," I moaned, but all I could do was stare at the body of Tony. No…not the body. The corpse. OH SHIT. Fuck! It was a fucking corpse! He was dead! The probation worker was dead! I had been an accomplice in a murder! Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh bollocks! THIS COULD NOT BE HAPPENING. But it was.

"You killed our probation worker!" said Alisha, like Kelly didn't already know.

"This is very, very bad," said Nathan, voicing my earlier thoughts exactly.

"I feel sick," gagged Alisha, covering her mouth and turning away.

"'E woulda killed os!" Kelly tried to sound defensive, but instead sounded close to tears.

"We should call the police! It was self-defence!" Curtis said hopefully.

"Yeah. Yeah! We show them the dead boy in the locker," said Alisha. "They'll do some CSI shit and figure it all out!"

"They won't believe os!" Kelly shouted hopelessly.

"We tell them the truth!" said Curtis. "We stick to our story!"

"And wot's our story?!" she demanded. "That 'e can turn invisible an' you can turn back time?! It doesn't matter wot we tell 'em, they'll say we're lyin'! They'll say we killed 'em bof!" She pointed at Curtis. "No one's gonna believe ya, not anymore!"

"Shitting hell!" I cried. "This seriously can't be happening!"

"Well, you better believe it Scorch, cause it is," said Nathan, now looking like he might cry as well.

"If there's no body, there's no crime!" Simon said. We looked at him. What was he saying? That we just bury the bodies and forget about them? "We should bury them under the fly-over." Yes, yes he was.

"You can't be serious!" I exclaimed. "How obvious will that be if we're trying to drag two corpses up there?"

"Yeah, how do we do that?" whimpered Alisha. "Someone's gonna see us!"

"No, no, no!" said Nathan quickly. "Right, we just give 'em a quick-" he made a whistling noise to indicate we should clean them up. "We put them in those wheelchairs, we wheel them up there and if anyone sees us, we're just a bunch of young offenders taking a couple of specials for a walk in the sunshine!"

"That might work," I said. "But I'm telling you _right now_ that I am not touching any form of dead body."

* * *

After that, it was like we were all running on automatic. The boys cleaned Gary and Tony up as best as they could and stuck them in the wheelchairs, hoodies over their bloodstained clothes. We wheeled the bodies up to the fly-over as if it was the most normal thing in the world to be doing, like pushing a baby in a buggy.

I was breathing normally now I was out of blood-range, and I noticed that my hands had stopped scorching everything they touched, which was weird.

"I can't believe this is happening," I muttered again, staring at the corpses in the makeshift grave we'd dug.

"I'm pretty sure this breaches the terms of my ASBO," joked Nathan feebly, leaning on his shovel.

"We don't tell anyone about this, yah?" instructed Kelly. "About the storm, or wot it did ta os or anyfin'."

"We're about to bury our probation worker, I don't think we need to be drawin' any attention to ourselves!" said Nathan in about the most serious tone I'd ever heard him use.

"Mate, there is seriously nothing else we can do," I said, throwing a shovel-load of mud into the grave. "It's all or nothing. I'm in. Fuck it."

"I don't want anyone to know!" said Alisha fiercely, starting to chuck dirt over the corpses as well. "I cannot be a freak!"

"Wot about you?" said Kelly, pointing at Curtis. There was a poisonous silence. Oh, fuck no, he was _not_ going to tell anyone about this!

"There's no goin' back now, man," Nathan said to him. "You're just as screwed as the rest of us! You're black _and_ famous, you're probably more screwed!"

"I shouldn't even be here!" he spat, also starting to bury the bodies.

"Yeah? Well too bad, because you are!" I snapped, so sick of his self-pity. "So get over it and get on with it, yeah?" This earned me a glare from him that would have had me floored if looks could kill.

"Jost then. When 'e was touchin' ya," said Kelly to Alisha. "How were ya doin' that?"

"I don't know," Alisha said quietly, again looking on the verge of tears.

"Wot about you?" she directed at me.

"I haven't got a fucking clue," I said, glancing down at my hands. "But it's not doing it now, whatever it was."

There was a few moments of silence as we continued to bury the bodies. Then Nathan looked at Simon and asked, "Didn't you say you wanted to piss on her tits?" Simon looked completely mortified. "It's probably best to keep that kinda thing between you and your internet service provider!"

"Leave him alone Nathan!" I said. "It weren't him, it was Alisha's weirdo power thing!"

"Are you alright?" Curtis asked Alisha, who just gave him a look that said _I don't want to talk about it_.

"So hold on," Nathan said, pausing his digging. "All of you have some kind of 'special power'! Everyone can do something except me! _He _can do something-" he pointed at Simon. "_He_ can do something and I can't! That's ridiculous! Look at him! Where does that make any sense?!"

"Maybe you can do something," mumbled Simon. "You just haven't found out what it is yet."

"Yeah! What if…what if I can't feel pain!" There was a hilarious moment as Kelly and I both swung our hands out and smacked Nathan either side of his head. "Ow!"

"Did ya feel that?" shouted Kelly while I just laughed.

"Will the two of you stop hittin' me!?" he exclaimed, rubbing both sides of his head.

Once we'd finished burying our dirty little secrets, we all dispersed in opposite directions to go home. I jogged behind Nathan and grabbed hold of his arm.

"Hey, hey!" he hissed, yanking his arm from my grip. "Easy on the touchin' there, Scorch! I don't wanna end up covered in burns!"

"Oh shut up, you prick, it's not doing it any more," I said exasperatedly, rolling my eyes.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Did you get burned just now?" There was a silence. "Didn't think so."

"Whatever. What do you want?" he asked, looking suspiciously at me. "Is this the point where you finally admit you wanna shag me?"

"What? No, it's not. Dickhead," I retorted. "I just wanted to say thanks for trying to save me back there."

"Of course. Anything for the beautiful maiden about to meet her doom," he smirked.

"Sure, whatever. But yeah. Thanks," I said.

"I can think of a way for you to show me how thankful you are," he said suggestively, stepping closer to me so that we were nearly nose-to-nose.

"Oh my God. Wow, really? We just buried our probation worker and some other kid and were accomplices in a murder not one hour ago, and yet you still manage to find a way to sexually harass me? Your parents must be so proud," I said, taking a step backwards to put some distance between us.

"Of course they are. Look at me!" He gestured to himself.

"Twat," I said curtly, turning away and heading off in the direction of the community centre so I could get my stuff.

"Aw, come on Scorch, don't be like that!" he called after me. "We both know it's gonna happen eventually!"

I didn't bother turning round to reply. Instead, I just threw my hand in the air and shot him the finger. I just needed to get home, have a drink and forget that today ever happened.

* * *

"_She's just a girl and she's on fire_  
_ Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway._  
_ She's living in a world and it's on fire_  
_ Filled with catastrophe,  
But she knows she can fly away._"  
**_- _Alicia Keys, "Girl On Fire"**

* * *

**A/N- I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but hey-ho. It's good enough to upload. Review, guys! I love to hear your thoughts! Xx Gee xX**


	4. I Know What You Did

**A/N- Dadada! Chapter Four! Enjoy, my lovelies! I do not own Misfits.**

* * *

**Chapter Four- I Know What You Did**

Needless to say, I woke up the next morning with a slight hangover. It wasn't one of those ones that made you recoil away from the light and hide under a duvet for the next week. I just had a small headache. Nothing a couple of Paracetamols and a morning walk wouldn't fix.

I cleared away the various empty cans of cider and had a quick shower to clear my head. I pulled on a pretty pink summer dress and silver gladiator sandals and painted my make-up on with painstaking precision, trying for the kind of look that said 'I feel great and have nothing to be worried about' as opposed to 'I feel like shit because I helped kill my probation worker yesterday'. And with that that I grabbed my bag and walked out of the front door, locking it behind me as I did so.

It was on the walk to the community centre that I allowed myself to think about what had happened yesterday. We'd killed someone, buried them and discovered we each had some kind of power. Freakin' _superpowers_. Seriously, where did this shit even come from!? I could burn things with my bare hands. Well, sort of. I'd tried it a couple more times when I'd got home, but nothing had happened. My newest theory was that the burning was a form of defence when I was angry…or scared, like I had been yesterday, but I was in no hurry to test it out.

I was nowhere near as early arriving at the community centre as I had been yesterday, but I was still the first one there. I headed inside to the vending machine for a Kit-Kat, and was greeted with the same snorty-snorey noises as yesterday. Oh, Nathan. Never one to worry about being on time, apparently. I headed up the stairs, trying to decide how to wake him up this morning. I wasn't feeling the whole 'screaming in his ear' thing. It'd been done. I poked the end of his nose and was rewarded with him swatting at my face and making a moaning noise. I unscrewed my bottle of water and, without hesitation, completely upended it over his face.

"Shit!" he spluttered, sitting bolt upright and spitting water out of his mouth. "What is it with you and feeling the need to wake me up?!"

"Oh come on," I retorted, laughing. "You know you love it. What better way to wake up than to see my beautiful face?"

"It's not your face I'm looking at, Scorch!" he shot back, his eyes lingering on my prominently displayed cleavage.

"And you said Simon's the sick bastard." I rolled my eyes.

Nathan grinned at me. "Seriously though, you need to get in to the habit of knockin' or makin' yourself heard before you just pop up like this! I could be doing something very private and important in here!"

"Is that your way of classing up the fact there's a very high chance I could walk in here to discover you knocking one out?" I snorted.

"Strictly speaking, yes. That is much more likely than anything else," he replied.

"Like I said yesterday, I'm already in enough therapy. I think the sight of you having a wank would be enough to get me landed in some kinda psychiatric unit."

"You know you'd love it," he said, winking.

"So anyway," I said in an attempt to change the topic. "We should probably go and get changed. I can hear the others." Sure enough, the front door banged and I saw Simon walk into the changing room, followed by Curtis, then Kelly, then Alisha. I stood up, and so did Nathan. As I tried to go down the stairs, he caught hold of my wrist, pulling me back.

"Hang on," he said, looking at me kind of intensely. "Yesterday, with all the burnin' and stuff. How were you doing that?"

I sighed. "I dunno. I have a theory that it was because I was scared, but to be perfectly honest, I really don't wanna test that theory out."

"And the blood thing?" he persisted. "Because, no offence Scorch, you looked like you were either gonna pass out or puke on your feet. Or both."

"Childhood thing," I answered. "Me and blood…we don't mix. Is the interrogation over, because I really don't want to be late and make things look any more suspicious than they already are."

* * *

Not surprisingly, when I got into the locker room Kelly and Alisha were already changed and heading out of the door to the main hall. Simon was looking at something on his phone and Curtis was still changing.

I opened my locker and stripped off my dress, stuffing it into the locker and pulling out the community payback jumpsuit.

"Fucking hell, Scorch," came Nathan's obnoxious voice. "You could use that bra as a fucking hat."

I gave him a seductive look and bit my lip. "You want to try it?" I moved my hand to the clasp of my bra as if I was about to undo it. Nathan nodded a little bit too eagerly. I quickly pulled on my jumpsuit, zipped it up and laughed, "Sorry babes, maybe another time."

"Are you promising that?"

"No." I shut my locker and Nathan did the same, now suddenly looking very serious. He whistled to get me, Simon and Curtis to gather around him.

"Alright," he whispered, zipping his own jumpsuit up halfway, leaving his black t-shirt on show. "So, if anyone asks what happened yesterday, we say nothin'. Right? It was a completely normal day." We all nodded and, in turn, headed into the main hall. Soon after, a pale woman with long, dark hair came out of the probation office and asked us to stand in a line, saying she needed to speak to us.

"Gary and my colleague Tony have both been reported missing," she told us. I stiffened slightly. Shit. Why, _why_ had we not realised that would happen!? Of course they'd been reported missing! They both had families…families that were now grieving for their missing sons or boyfriends or whatever.

"Their families are very worried about them," the woman carried on. "Have you seen anything unusual? Anything at all?" We all stood in silence, willing her to leave us. That was when Nathan raised his hand. We turned to look at him. What the fuck was he doing?! "You saw something?" the woman asked.

Nathan nodded. "A few days ago, I go into the toilets. Gary and Tony are in there, they're butt naked. Tony has Gary by his hair, like this-" he grabbed the back of his head. "And he's just doin' him. Doggy style." This was where Nathan saw fit to add hip-thrusting gestures. "And he's all 'who's your daddy? I'm your daddy! I'm Big Daddy!'-" cue another disturbing gesture. "-'oh yeah, you like that? Oh yeah, I'm Daddy Cool!'-" yet another explicit gesture. "So I'm guessing," he continued calmly, hands on hips. "That they've run away to continue their illicit, homosexual affair and I ask you, in this world of intolerance and prejudice, who are we-" he gestured at our little group. "Who are _we_ to condemn them?"

The woman gave him a look of sheer disbelief, before walking back into the probation office. I waited for the door to close firmly before I rounded on him. "What the actual fuck was that?!"

"That, my beautiful, was an example of some amazing red herring work," he smirked.

"You can't be serious! We needed to keep this as bland and boring as we possibly could!" I fumed. "An 'oh no, we have no idea what you're talking about' kind of thing! Not whatever the hell you just did, you prick!" Jesus, if we weren't screwed before, we definitely were now.

* * *

Miss New Probation Worker never came back out of the probation office, so the six of us decided to head up to the roof. We stood by the edge, looking over the lake. The front doors to the community centre opened, and she came out, looking severely depressed. She stood outside for a few minutes before just turning and heading towards the car park.

The second she left our line of sight Nathan removed his fag from his mouth and said, "Well I think we got away with it!"

"Do you actually believe that?" asked Curtis. "Or are you just really dumb?"

"I actually believe that!" Nathan declared. "I mean, I was there. I should have one of these bullshit powers!"

"Ya can 'ave mine!" said Kelly irritatedly. "Ya wanna 'ear wot people are finkin' about you?"

Nathan took a drag on his cigarette. "Not so much, no. I want somethin' good. Y'know, somethin' from the A-list."

"Maybe you can fly?" said Simon tentatively.

"He's not gonna be able to fly!" said Alisha superficially.

"Yeah! There's always someone who can fly!" Nathan said eagerly, climbing on top of one of the chairs.

"I wouldn't do that. It's not high enough. Try the edge of the building," I suggested.

"Ha fucking ha, Scorch," he said, before jumping off the chair and landing in a painful heap on the floor. "Ah! No…that's not it."

"Told you it weren't high enough," I taunted.

"You're a right laugh, aren't you Scorchy?" he said. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

"So…what happens now?" asked Curtis. "Is this it? We're gonna be like this forever?"

"What if we're meant to be like…superheroes?" said Simon.

"Oh my God, yes!" I exclaimed. "I call Batgirl!"

"Funny. No offence, but in what kind of fucked-up world would that be allowed to happen?" said Nathan.

"I did not sign up for that!" snapped Alisha.

Nathan looked at Simon and scoffed, "Superheroes? I love this guy. You prick!"

"Wot if there's loadsa people like os all ova town?" said Kelly.

Nathan shook his head. "No. That kind of thing only happens in America!" He draped an arm around my shoulders for no apparent reason. "This will fade away. I'm tellin' ya, by this time next week, it'll be back to the same old borin' shit."

"I hope so," I said. "I really do."

* * *

Over the next few days, a kind of pattern set in. I'd arrive at the community centre, find some entertaining way of waking Nathan up, the others would turn up, we'd get changed, the new probation worker (Sally) would give us our monotonous task for the day, we'd do said monotonous task until we could leave.

It was during those monotonous tasks that a smaller pattern set in: Nathan would have some kind of hissy fit about how he didn't have a power, Kelly would punch him, I'd laugh, Simon would film us like the creepy little pervert he was, Alisha and Curtis would flirt, and Nathan and I would banter between ourselves.

It _wasn't_ flirting, despite what Alisha and Kelly were fond of saying, it was just light-hearted mockery between friends…were Nathan and I friends yet? I honestly couldn't tell between the constant sexual harassment from him and me delivering some kind of slap or hit to his face.

My power had only made one more appearance. I'd been walking home after our fourth day of community service, and some guy had jumped me, demanding I hand over my bag. Terrified, and also seeing it as an opportunity to finally test out my theory, I'd grabbed his arm to stop him. Sure enough, when he'd cried out in agony and pulled away, there was a burning handprint where I'd seized him.

The couple of days after that had been totally normal, just filled with scraping up dog crap and scraping graffiti. Now, on Day Seven of our community service, Sally had handed us litter pickers and set us loose on the streets to clean up.

"And what, cause you're all special and I'm not?" Nathan was demanding as we headed into town. "Yeah, well I doubt it. You can think what you like, but I've got a 'superpower', and I just need to find out what it is!"

"Oh my God, I am getting so bored of you saying that!" I groaned, hitting him in the back of the leg with my picker.

"Yeah. Maybe you're just super-retarded!" put in Alisha, sounding exasperated.

"Maybe I've got a whole Spider-Man vibe going on!" Nathan continued. "Maybe I can climb stuff and do spider shit!"

"Yeah, cause that makes sense," sneered Curtis. "Why would you be able to climb stuff?"

"I don't know! How is it that you can turn back time, apparently?" challenged Nathan. "How is it Scorchy can burn people with her bare hands when she's scared, and Weird Kid-" he snapped his picker in Simon's face. "Can turn invisible? It's not like this situation is backed up by a wank-load of logic, is it?"

Curtis just gave him the finger.

* * *

It was when we were in one of the car parks, picking up the litter that things started to get just a little bit fucked up again. I picked up what looked like a rotting cucumber and stuffed it in my bag when Curtis suddenly exclaimed, "What is that?"

We looked in the direction he was gawping in. There, practically unconscious on the concrete, was a man. A naked man, to be exact. Of all the things that had happened over the last week, this was officially the weirdest.

"Is 'e breavin'?" asked Kelly when we got closer to him.

"I…think so," I said, craning my neck forward to double-check. "Yup, he's breathing."

Alisha walked forward and tentatively poked the guy's arse with her picker. "Hey Nude Guy! You're naked!"

This seemed to wake the guy up, as he rolled over, apparently completely unaware of where he was. Sensing what was going to happen a second before it did, I turned my back on the guy. Everyone else, meanwhile, made noises of shocked disgust. From my backwards position, I saw Simon take a picture. Yeah, just as I thought. Perverted.

"You!" Nathan suddenly shouted, causing me to turn around. I was desperately looking anywhere except for at the guy's lower half. The guy looked at us, then down to his crotch, then back up to us. He scrambled to his feet and started running as fast as he could. "Hey!" Nathan shouted after him, causing the guy to look back and trip over. We all burst into raucous laughter, as he jumped back to his feet and proceeded with the sprinting.

"You wanna tell us who that was?" Curtis laughed.

"He's my mum's…he lives with my mum!" said Nathan.

"Your step-dad has got a _massive_ cock!" announced Alisha, giggling.

"What?! No! Jesus!" cried Nathan as we all laughed. "And he's not my step-dad, alright?"

"Did you see that thing? That was like monster big!" Alisha made a noise to indicate pain. "Your mum will hurt."

Nathan stuffed his fingers in his ears and chanted, "La la la la la!" before snapping, "Shut up!"

"Why's 'e naked?" demanded Kelly, like we had a clue.

"An excellent question," I said. "Maybe he's one of them guys that gets off on flashing young, impressionable children."

"He's obviously some kind of pervert," said Alisha. "Or he's gay."

"Yeah, that follows," said Curtis.

"What? He's cruising for rough trade!" said Alisha defensively. "They love that shit!"

"Oh, a little light homophobia? Go for it!" Curtis gestured for her to follow Nude Guy, who had since vanished.

"'E could be a rapist," said Kelly. "There's _loads_ of 'em round 'ere."

"Cheers for that Kelly. A nice thought for when we're all walking home on our own," I said sarcastically.

"Maybe he's a werewolf," suggested Simon.

"Twat!" exclaimed Nathan, pointing at him with his litter-picker.

"It's what happens in films!" said Simon. "You turn into a werewolf, you kill someone, then you wake up somewhere naked. Like a zoo."

"Isn't that more like _Twilight_?" I said.

"No," said Simon. "In _Twilight _they aren't werewolves. They're shape-shifters."

"Look, he's not a werewolf!" said Nathan. "This guy's such a pussy, he needs my mum to open jars for him! I'm sure if he was a werewolf he'd be able to open a jar of peanut butter for himself!"

"Wot if the storm messed 'im op?" said Kelly.

"That's bollocks," he said, but he didn't sound so sure. "What're the chances?"

"Look around you Nathan!" I said, gesturing round the group. "You're standing here with a boy who can turn invisible, a girl who can read minds, a boy who can turn back time, a girl who can make people want to shag her on contact, and a girl who can burn stuff with one touch! How can you not think there's a chance something happened to that guy?"

But Nathan shook his head, adamant. "No way. It would just be way too much of a coincidence."

* * *

An hour later we were back at the community centre, ready for the next half of our day. I froze as we walked into the main hall.

Oh my God, they were everywhere. The room was dominated with them. They were eating, drinking, dancing. Old people. Now, I'm no ageist, but when you're confronted with a hall full of people over sixty-five, you get a bit overwhelmed.

This is the first time we had been allowed to wear what we wanted, as opposed to those God-awful jumpsuits, and I thought I was looking pretty good in my denim miniskirt, low-cut white vest (maybe a bit _too_ low-cut as the pink lace of my bra was poking out the top) and a pair of three-inch cork wedges.

"Help out, talk to them, make sure everyone's having a good time," instructed Sally. We all hesitated, not really wanting to move into the throng of OAPs. "Move!" Nathan, Kelly and I approached an old man in a wheelchair, who wasn't moving, had his eyes closed and was scarcely breathing.

"Is 'e dead?" asked Kelly, peering for a closer look. "I fink 'e's dead!"

"They wouldn't just leave some dead guy around," I said nervously. "Would they?"

Nathan leaned in closer to the old man, putting his mouth next to the guy's ear. "SHE'S STEALING YOUR PENSION!" The old man jumped like he'd been shot, very much alive. Nathan turned to Kelly and me and grinned. "He's fine."

I sighed and headed to the dancefloor, where several of the old people were shuffling away to the music, pulling Nathan's hand as I did. "Come on, let's dance!"

"Of course, Scorch. You know what they say," he said, putting his arms around my waist and swaying us to the music. "It takes two to tango."

I made a noise of discontent and ripped myself from his grasp. "Fucking hell, Nathan! I can't even ask you a simple thing without you turning it into something revolving around sex! Jesus Christ!" I turned on my heel and tried to stalk off in a dignified manner, but the illusion was shattered by some old woman, who introduced herself as Christine, asking me to play a game of cards with her.

As much as I didn't want to, I accepted, trying to take my mind of Nathan. I sat down with Christine and she produced a pack of cards. Halfway through the game, I was starting to get bored. I looked around the room, and saw Simon awkwardly dancing with some woman, Alisha was making tea and Kelly and Curtis were also dancing. Nathan was by the food table, talking to some really pretty blonde girl in a multicoloured sundress. Suddenly, I felt a huge stab of jealousy rush through me.

Who was this girl? I saw them laughing together, and the feeling intensified. No, stop it! I had no reason to be jealous. The only feelings I had for Nathan were those you feel towards a friend, nothing more. It was only when I smelt an acrid burning smell did I look away, and saw the card in my hand was blackening and slowly curling up on itself.

"Shit!" I hissed, quickly dropping it. Christine gave me a reproachful look. I ignored her and looked back up at Nathan, who was now dancing with an elderly woman in a yellow cardigan.

Christine followed my gaze and cracked a grin. "He's a nice one."

"He's alright," I said facetiously, knocking the burnt-up card to the floor before she saw it. "Not really my type."

"Oh please," scoffed Christine. "It's etched all over your face that you like the boy."

"He's a mate," I replied, shuffling the cards. "Nothing more."

"Of course he is." Christine looked at Nathan again. "He is ever so good-looking. If I were fifty years younger…"

"What say I get you a cup of tea, yeah?" I interrupted, standing up and hurrying over to the drinks table.

As I poured some milk into a cup, Nathan came up behind me. "Alright there, Scorch?"

"Right as rain, thanks very much," I said, stirring the cup of tea so ferociously I'm amazed I didn't crack the china. Instead, a load of the tea sloshed over the sides of the cup and scalded my hand. "Mother_fucker_!" I grabbed a handful of napkins and dabbed at the tea on my hand.

"Easy on the language there," said Nathan. "There are impressionable old people around!"

"Look, is there something you want Nathan?" I snapped, turning around with my hands on my hips.

"Yeah. You and me."

"What about you and me?"

"Are we gonna be fucking any time soon?" he asked. "I need a straight answer."

"And why's that then?" I folded my arms.

"Because there is another potential lady who's just beggin' to have a go on this," he replied, gesturing to his crotch.

"Oh yeah? Little Miss Blondie?" I said, angrily-er than I'd intended.

"If you mean her-" he pointed to the girl I'd seen him talking to earlier. "Then yes. Beautiful, isn't she? Sure, she's not got much going for her in the vital areas-" he paused to plainly stare at my boobs. "But she's so in to me it ain't even funny. So, returning to the original question, are we gonna be fucking in the foreseeable future?"

"Nathan, how do I put this delicately? No, we aren't going to be fucking any time soon. Sorry, sweetheart." I picked up the cup of tea and, with a sarcastic smile at Nathan, departed the now slightly awkward scene.

* * *

"Seriously, what is it with old people and playing card games?" I grumbled in the locker room when we had finally been set free. "I'm tellin' ya, the next time someone asks me to play Snap with them, they are getting one motherfucker of a slap!"

"You sound like you had fun," said Alisha, grinning.

"Is it obvious?" I said sarcastically, pulling my bag out of my locker and closing it.

"Someone knows!" said Curtis suddenly. We all turned to face him. He was holding a piece of paper, an appalled expression marring his face. "They know we killed our probation worker!"

"What are you on about?" I demanded. In response, he held up the piece of paper so we could read it. On the sheet was a series of cliché ransom-note-style newspaper clippings spelling out I KNOW WHAT YOU DID.

"Is this a wind-op?" said Kelly, not sounding particularly bothered.

"Was this you?" I said to Nathan, who shut his locker indignantly and put his hands in his pockets.

"If I was tryin' to wind you up, I think I'd be a little more creative," he scoffed. "'_I know what film you saw last summer_'."

"This isn't funny!" said Kelly angrily.

"If I wanted to freak you out, I'd've dug up the bodies and stuck those in your locker!" he said sincerely.

"If it him who was it?" asked Simon.

"Well we've all done stuff," said Nathan intensely. "They could be talking about anything."

"It was in your locker!" pointed out Alisha.

"This was meant for all of us!" insisted Curtis. "They're talkin' about the probation worker!"

"You don't know that," I said fairly. "Seriously, it's probably just some prickhead dicking around with us! Who bothers with this kind of shit?"

"Yeah. Let's just say your right," said Nathan. "If they knew anything, they wouldn't be dickin' around sticking notes on lockers. They'd've gone to the police, and we'd all be banged up in prison gettin' gang-raped in the showers! But this-" he gestured at the note. "This means they have no evidence, no proof. Nothing. And anyway, I'm guessing it's about some other totally unrelated shit that you've done," he added to Curtis. "So, if we're all done here freakin' out over nothing, there's somewhere I need to be." He patted Curtis patronizingly on the shoulder and sauntered out of the locker room.

There were a few seconds of an intense silence as we all looked at each other, wondering if Nathan could be right for a change.

"Please tell me you don't actually believe that prick!" exploded Curtis.

"Well 'oo ever did it's jost tryin' ta freak os out, right?" said Kelly. "So jost act normal!"

"Good idea," I agreed. "I mean, come on. What's to worry about? The probation worker's six feet under, no one's gonna find him. There's nothing to panic about."

* * *

_"He starts to notice empty bottles of gin.  
It takes a moment to assess the sins she paid_ for."  
**-Panic! At The Disco, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa"**

* * *

**A/N- Famous last words! Anyway, I'm not sure about this chapter. I think it rambles a bit…still, review anyway! They make me feel loved! Xx Gee xX**


	5. Not Just Us

**A/N- Five. It's a magic number. Or is that three? Anyway, here's Chapter Five. Sorry it's kinda late…**

* * *

**Chapter Five- Not Just Us**

"So Georgia. How are you feeling today?" asked my anger management therapist, Marie, away from prying ears in the safety of the probation office.

_Scared. Jealous. Alone. _"Fine."

"Have you had any contact with your family since our meeting last week?"

"Nope."

"Have you had any more of your angry episodes since then?"

"Nah."

Marie sighed. "Georgia, I'm going to need more than monosyllabic answers if I'm going to properly assess you."

I mimicked her sigh. "What exactly am I supposed to say? 'Hello Marie, I'm feeling fine today. No, of course I haven't had any contact with my family since last week given the fact that they hate me. And no, I haven't had any of my angry episodes since then either.' Is that what you wanted?"

"It would certainly be a start."

I made a noise of exasperation. God, I fucking hated therapy. All that sitting around talking about 'feelings' and shit. What was the point!? If I wanted to talk about how I felt, I'd go to one of those confessional things in a church.

Actually…probably not even then, what with me being Atheist and all.

"Fine. Fine," I said, defeated. "Yeah, I guess I'm feeling pretty good today. I mean, I'm feeling no different to that way I have done the last couple of days."

"That's good," said Marie, scribbling on her clipboard. "Can you think of why that is?"

"Dunno. I guess it's because I've actually got friends now. Y'know, people to talk to."

"I see." More scribbling. "Who would you say you are closest to at the moment?"

This caught me off guard. "What d'you mean?"

"Who would you say is the person you speak to the most?"

"Again, I dunno. I guess Kelly and Alisha. Us girls together, and all that bullshit." I picked at the red nail varnish on my thumb. Jesus Christ, can it just be over?!

"That's great. That's really good," said Marie, smiling at me. "On the subject of relationships and returning to one of my earlier questions, are you planning on trying to get in touch with your family at all?"

"No, not really. They don't want anything to do with me and, to be perfectly honest with ya, I don't want anything to do with them anymore. They treat me like I'm a fucking leper or something. Yeah, so maybe I attacked my sister. Yeah, maybe I dislocated her jaw with a baseball bat. That was no reason for my family to get me arrested and dumped in this shit hole! I'm a good person, alright? I always tried to do the right thing, and me smacking my bitch of a sister in the face with a hunk of wood was no different!"

I could feel myself shaking and my face getting hotter. Oh God, I was having an episode. "I am so fucking fed up of people telling me I should speak to my family! If I wanted to speak to them, I'd fucking pick up a phone and call them! And if they wanted to do the same, they know where I'm living! So stop telling me that _I _should be the one to do something about all this shit, okay?!"

By this point I was on my feet and yelling. I was vaguely aware of the fact I was breathing so hard I was practically hyperventilating and that I'd also kicked over a chair.

"Georgia, relax," Marie said calmly. "Remember our steps. Count from one to ten and sit down."

_One_,_ two, three…calm down, it's okay…six, seven…just relax…nine, ten_. I sat down on the sofa again. I gripped my knee hard, but had to quickly jerk it away when I felt it burning. Shit, my power!

If Marie noticed anything, she didn't let on. Instead she just said, "Well done. I'm pleased you were able to calm yourself down. That is progress."

"Sure, whatever. Are we done now, because I've really got stuff I need to be getting on with, like putting out chairs for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting."

Marie sighed again. "Yes, I think that's enough for one day."

* * *

"Hey! Hey Scorch!" Nathan called to me as I came out of the probation office. "Check this out!"

"What is it?" I asked, going over to him.

"The guy who lives with my mum was out there again last night!" he replied, whipping a mobile out of his pocket. "Look!" He showed me a barely discernable photo that had been taken with night-vision.

"What am I supposed to be looking at exactly?" I frowned, squinting at the picture.

He sighed. "Cock, anus, ball sack!" He pointed each of them out.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, pointing to one part of the photo.

"That's anus! Fucking hell, it's from a low angle!"

"Where did you get this? Where were you last night?" I said quizzically, looking at him.

"Er, nowhere," he said quickly, before hurrying over to Simon. "Look! Cock, anus, ball sack! Yeah?"

Simon grinned embarrassedly. "What's that?"

"That's cock!" Nathan looked around at us all. "Look, this guy is livin' with my mum, we've gotta do somethin'!"

"Like wot?" said Kelly, unstacking a few chairs.

"Can you get me a gun?" asked Nathan, totally seriously.

"I ain't gettin' ya a gun," she said fixedly.

"Come on, you know someone right?" he persisted. "Just a little one. Nothin' too leery."

"There's no way I'm gettin' a dick'ead, like you, a _gun_!" she said.

"You can get a gun off the internet," interjected Simon, who was filming us again.

"Right, what if we go around there tonight," said Nathan. "And we'll talk to him, we'll be mature, and polite, yeah? And then we'll just tell him to fuck off."

"Wot if 'e says no?" said Kelly.

"Yeah, I doubt he'll take too kindly to you just turning up and telling him to fuck off," I said, folding my arms and raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno, we'll improvise," Nathan said with a dismissive wave of his hand before throwing out his arms. "So who's with me?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as Simon, Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and I all looked at each other.

"Oh, it's like that is it?" Nathan sounded offended. "So much for bein' united by a horrific, life-changing, shared experience." We all looked at him blankly. "You know. Last week? The _situation_?" More blank looks. "We killed our probation worker?!" he almost shouted.

"Shut up!" I hissed, followed by "Prick!" from Curtis and "You're such a dick'ead!" from Kelly.

"That counts for nothing?" concluded Nathan, apparently not troubled by the fact he'd nearly sold us out to anyone who could have been listening.

I sighed, unfolding my arms in defeat. "Yeah, alright, I'll come with you."

"Seriously?" Nathan sounded surprised. "Wow, Scorchy, never thought I'd hear ya say you'd help me."

"Whatever. Just don't get used to it, yeah?" I rolled my eyes, then grinned at him, and he grinned back.

"Awesome. Nathan and Scorch, teamin' up," he said in a really overdramatic voice. "Let's get shit done!" I rolled my eyes again.

"I'll come as well," said Simon. "You know, if you want someone to go with you. I'll come."

Nathan looked at him scornfully. "I'm not being funny, but me and you-" he gestured between the two of them. "Buddying up? Kickin' ass? I'm just not feelin' it, but hey. Lovely thought. Cheers. Nope, me and Scorch here-" he threw his arm around my shoulders. "Have it all under control."

I smiled sympathetically at Simon to show him I was sorry for Nathan being such a dickhead to him before shrugging Nathan's arm from around me and helping Kelly set out the chairs. The door slammed, and I turned in time to see Simon disappear into the locker room.

* * *

A couple more hours passed, and eventually it was time to go home. Kelly, Alisha and I headed to the locker room to get changed. Nathan and Curtis had already changed, Nathan waiting outside the locker room for me and him to go to see his step-dad, and I hadn't seen Simon since Nathan had pissed him off.

"I'm probably gonna end up getting called up by the police again," said Alisha as we all opened our lockers. "For breaking my curfew."

"Why?" said Kelly.

"I went out last night," said Alisha, unzipping her jumpsuit.

"'Oo wiv?" asked Kelly.

"Some mates."

"Who were they?" I said, stepping out of my jumpsuit and pulling my white denim shorts out of my locker.

"Just some mates," replied Alisha. "You don't know 'em."

Kelly stripped off her own jumpsuit and bent over to get something out of her locker. Alisha and I both noticed the bow tattoo at the base of her spine at the same time.

"Did that hurt when you got it done?" Alisha asked her.

"Yeah, it 'urt like a bastard," she answered, turning to look at it.

"Seriously?" I said. "I'm thinking about getting a tattoo, but I'm not cool on pain."

"I only got it done cause me fiancé wanted it," said Kelly.

"Are you engaged?" Alisha and I asked simultaneously.

"I was. Not any more," Kelly replied, pulling a purple polo shirt over her head.

"Why? What happened?" I asked, pulling up my shorts and stepping back into my leopard-print flats.

"I could 'ear wot 'e was finkin', yah?" said Kelly. "And 'e wasn't exactly bein' romantic."

"That's so shit," I said benevolently, pulling my yellow bra strap back on to my shoulder as it had been slipping down.

"S'alright," Kelly shrugged. "'E was a bit of a dick, anyway." She looked at Alisha. "'Av you been wiv anyone since you could do your fing?"

"No, not full on," she replied, yanking a pink leopard-print dress up her torso. "I tried it out with a couple of guys, just for a second. They were proper horny. One was quite fit, actually," she added.

"Should have gone for it," I said, tugging a cute blue vest over my head and spraying on some Impulse Tease.

"'Ave ya shagged anyone?" Kelly asked her.

"What d'you think?" Alisha sighed, adjusting her dress. Suddenly, I got the weirdest feeling. It was like I was being watched or something.

"Urgh," I shivered, twitching with fear slightly.

"What's up with you?" Alisha frowned.

I turned around to where it felt like the feeling was coming from, but there was nothing. Nobody there. "Nothing. I just had a twitchy moment. That's all."

"Right," she said, closing her locker. "Come on, let's go." Kelly and I both swung our lockers shut and followed her out.

"Christ, how long does it take for girls to change?" whined Nathan.

"What, would you rather I walk out of there in nothing but my bra and knickers?" I asked. Seeing the expression on his face I quickly added, "Don't answer that!"

"Fine. Come on then, Scorch. Let's fuck shit up!"

* * *

It was a half an hour walk to the ridiculously suburban area of Wertham where Nathan had grown up. Seriously, I was half expecting him to drag me to some kind of wolf cave or something.

"Right, slight problem," he said as we approached the house, whirling round to face me. "I don't actually have a key."

"Great. Nice one. Real smooth there, Nathan," I said sarcastically. "What do you suggest, breaking in through one of the windows?"

Nathan's face lit up. "That's a pretty damn good idea, Scorch!" Before I even had a chance to tell him I was joking, he started creeping along the side of the house, crouching under the windows.

I crawled up beside him as he peered through the kitchen window, which was open slightly. "Am I the only person who feels the _Mission Impossible_ theme tune would be seriously appropriate here?" I whispered, starting to hum it.

"Will you shut up?" Nathan hissed, easing the window open wide enough for us to climb through. "We need to be stealthy. We need to be fucking ninjas!"

"Oh yeah, good idea asking me to come along then! I'm like, the clumsiest person ever!"

"Shh," he shushed, putting his finger over my lips. He motioned for me to go. "Ladies first."

"Prick," I muttered, hoisting myself through the window. There were some dishes on the draining board, but luckily I saw them before kicking them over. I hopped down from the worktop and waved Nathan in. I could hear some weirdo tinkly pop music playing, and a whirring noise.

Nathan put his hand on the windowsill and heaved. He pulled himself in halfway, then held his arms out to me. "A little help, Scorch?"

"Oh, fucking hell," I mumbled, taking hold of his wrists and pulling him so that he was on the draining board. His elbow jerked out and sent one of the plates tumbling to the ground, breaking with a smash. "Shit, Nathan! Look out!"

"I'm tryin'!" he hissed. However, he evidently wasn't trying hard enough as he flailed around, sending another two plates to their doom and falling to the floor himself.

The guy who we'd seen yesterday, Jeremy I presumed, appeared through one of the doors to the kitchen, dressed in cycling shorts and a sweaty t-shirt. "Nathan?"

Nathan scrambled to his feet. "That's right," he said, trying to sound intimidating and failing. Miserably. "Your number's up, you psycho nudist freak!"

"Seriously?" I said, facepalming. "Of all the insults you could have used, and you go for that? Good God."

"Who are you?" asked Jeremy, looking past Nathan to me.

"Me? I'm Georgia. I'm er…a friend of Nathan's," I said, offering my hand to him. Jeremy shook it with a, "Nice to meet you."

"Okay, great, we all know each other! But you! I've got you now!" Nathan snapped, brandishing his mobile at Jeremy. "See anything you recognise?"

Jeremy cocked his head slightly to the side, trying to comprehend the picture of his own backside. "What am I looking at?"

"Cock, anus, ball sack?" Nathan said frustratedly, pointing to each part of the picture.

"Is it?"

"It's from a low angle," I said helpfully.

"It's you!" said Nathan, ignoring my comment. "Last night! George Michael gets away with this shit but he used to be in WHAM!. Who're you?"

"George Michael? You've gone for that? _Really_? Oh my God," I muttered.

Nathan glared at me. "Will you stop with the interruptin'?" he said, incensed, before turning back to Jeremy. "So?"

"I don't remember what happened," Jeremy admitted.

"Oh, how very convenient," Nathan said derisively, holding up the phone. "_This_ happened! I show this to my mum, you're history. So just-" he picked up a radio that was playing the weirdo tinkly pop music. "Take your crappy shit, and go." He dropped the radio. It hit the tiled flooring with a crack and split down the side, the music pettering out and the battery falling out.

"That's your mum's" said Jeremy, and I had to seriously bite my tongue to stop myself bursting out laughing.

"Well then I'll buy her a new one, because that's what sons do for their mums!" said Nathan determinedly. "Look, don't make this any harder on her, just _go_!"

"No, you g-go," Jeremy stuttered. "Your mum doesn't even want you here."

"You prick!" Nathan clenched his fist and punched Jeremy full in the face.

"Nathan, no!" I cried. Cue woman with dark curly hair who just had to be Nathan's mum walking in the room.

"Nathan!" she gasped. "What are you doing?!"

"You made me do this!" Nathan insisted, pointing at Jeremy. "You wouldn't listen! That psycho was out there again last night," he added to his mum. "Tell her, you sick bastard!"

"He already told me!" she shouted, handing Jeremy a wodge of tissues for his now-bleeding nose.

"Oh, hey! You might want to tip your head forward," I recommended. "It helps the blood drain out easier. First Aid One-Oh-One."

Nathan's mum looked at me. "Who are you?"

"Georgia. Friend of Nathan's. Lovely house you've got, by the way." Like I had with Jeremy, I offered her my hand, which she shook.

"He told you?" Nathan repeated, pulling us back to the situation at hand. "So…what the fuck?!"

"It started after that storm," Jeremy said, taking my advice and leaning forward slightly. "It did something to me. Sometimes it's like I'm a dog. When I was a kid, we had this Jack Russell, Billy. We did everything together."

_The storm? So it wasn't just us who was effected _is something I so very nearly said out loud.

"That's weird!" Nathan hissed to his mum, who was getting more tissues. "That's really weird!"

"He was my best friend. Now whenever I see a Jack Russell, it…it brings back all these feelings, and the next thing I know I'm waking up…naked."

"Hey, I had a rabbit like that!" I said. "I loved that little thing. Then it got shot. Trés sad. Sorry," I said hastily, seeing the weird looks the three of them were giving me. "Continue."

"It's true," confirmed Nathan's mum. "I didn't believe it at first, but I've seen what he's like when he changes."

Nathan looked like he was about to be sick. "Just…are you honestly telling me that you're okay with this?!"

"If that's who he is," she said solemnly. "I've got to accept it. I mean, some men dress up in women's clothing!"

"Yeah, they're just sick perverts!" Nathan persisted. He gestured at Jeremy. "He's dangerous!"

Jeremy stood up quickly and stood behind Nathan's mum. "I would never hurt your mum! I love her." He and Nathan's mum shared an adoring look between them.

"Awww!" I said. Again, I was rewarded with three separate WTF looks. "Sorry."

Nathan's mum had a closer look at Jeremy's face. "You've broken his nose!"

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Urgh, it's not like you can enter him in Crufts!"

I honestly think the only person more surprised about what happened next than me was Nathan himself. His mum's hand flew out and connected with her son's cheek with a harsh _slap_ noise. I gasped, she gasped. Hell, we all gasped. Nathan looked at his mum in incredulity, clutching the side of his face that she'd slapped, and bolted out of the back door.

"Oh shit," I muttered, dashing after him, leaving his mum and Jeremy in the kitchen. "Nathan!" I called after him. "Nathan!" He was halfway down the road when I caught up with him, his hands stuffed moodily in the pockets of his hoodie. "Nathan, for God's sake, stop!" I grabbed hold of his arm.

He did stop, but he didn't make any attempt to talk to me. Instead, he just pulled a cigarette from his pocket, stuck it in his mouth and lit it. "Nathan, come on, talk to me."

"Why? What can you have to say that'd make me feel better?"

"Because…I'm your mate, Nathan." So now we were friends. It was now confirmed, I guessed. "You can talk to me." Silence. "It was the first time she's hit you, huh?"

"How'd ya work that one out, Scorch?" he said in an attempt at his usual bravado.

"It wasn't hard. The looks of complete shock on your face and hers was enough," I said, pulling the fag out of his mouth and taking a drag on it myself. I held the smoke in my lungs for a couple of seconds before trying out that French exhalation trick from _Grease_ which, I'm proud to say, looked pretty good. I tapped it a few times to knock off the excess ash.

"Hey! These things cost me money!" Nathan protested, snatching it back.

"Oh calm down," I laughed. "What's one missing cigarette gonna do to your budget?"

"Hey, they're getting fucking expensive! Anyway," he said, taking a drag. "As much as I'd love to stay and chat about my mother hitting me and how much a cigarette costs, there's somethin' I've gotta do."

"Oh yeah? What's that then?" I said lightly.

"I need to go see Ruth and give her phone back. I'm gonna see if I can pick up where we left off last night," he smirked, giving me an outrageous wink.

I made a noise of repugnance. "Twat. You really have no shame, do you?"

"'Fraid not, love. What ya see is what ya get."

"Good thing I like what I see then, isn't it?" I said without thinking. My eyes widened in mortification as I realised what I'd said.

"Ha! I knew it!" Nathan said smugly, coming to a stop and grinning down at me.

"Knew what?" I muttered, desperately trying to not make eye contact with him.

"You are so in to me," he murmured, leaning his head down so we were almost nose-to-nose. "Go on, admit it."

"Well, I guess I could," I whispered, moving closer as if I was about to kiss him before quickly pulling my head away. "But my parents always told me it was bad to lie."

"I always thought lyin' was the most fun a girl could have without takin' her clothes off? Not that I'm opposed to that last bit."

"That's a song, you dickhead," I said, rolling my eyes. "Like you said, it's time we went our separate ways. I've got stuff to do, people to see. See ya tomorrow."

"Nice try at avoidin' the question!" he called after me as I walked away from him. "You'll admit it eventually! We both know it!"

"Don't hold your breath!" I shouted over my shoulder, before pulling my phone out of my pocket and keying in Alisha's number. God, after all that I _so_ needed a girls' night in.

"Hey Alisha," I said when she answered. "You and Kelly fancy coming to mine tonight?"

* * *

Two hours and three bottles of wine later, Kelly and Alisha started bitching about exactly what they hated about their powers.

"It's so fockin' annoyin'!" Kelly fumed. "I 'ate knowin' wot everyone finks of me!"

"Really? I'd quite like to read minds," I replied, pouring out another glass of wine. "It'd give me an actual excuse to punch someone."

"Nah, it's proper irritatin'," she said.

"You think _yours_ is irritating?!" said Alisha, exhaling sharply. "At least you can touch people! I can't even give someone a hug without them wanting to shag me! It's pissing me off well bad!"

"Wow, you guys are being depressing!" I commented. "I actually quite like my power. It's fun burning things. Sure, I need to be in constant control of my emotions so it doesn't go haywire. I mean, yeah, I almost set fire to my leg in therapy this morning, but I stopped it."

"But what if you hadn't?" said Alisha.

"Yeah. Wot if, right," put in Kelly. "You'd jost, like, set fire ta ya self?"

"But I didn't," I pointed out. "I'm still here and perfectly un-singed." Alisha and Kelly had nothing else to say. There was a silence as we all sipped our wine and crunched some Doritos from a bowl on my coffee table. Then Kelly spoke again.

"So wot's goin' on wiv you and Nathan?"

I blinked in surprised. "What d'you mean?"

"Do ya fancy 'im?" she said bluntly.

"What?! No! Why'd you ask that?"

"'Cause ya always wiv 'im, and laughin' wiv 'im and shit. And 'e finks about ya a lot, ya know," she replied.

"Really?" I was intrigued. "What does he think about me?"

"Are ya sure ya wanna ask that? 'Cause ta be honest, some of 'is forts make me feel sick."

"Come on, tell me! There's the sink if you are gonna puke," I giggled, pointing to it.

"'E's always finkin' about ya tits, or ya arse, and 'e keeps finkin' about this fing ya did in the locker room last week. Somefin' about you almost takin' off ya bra?" She and Alisha looked at me quizzically.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," I said quickly. "Anything else? Or is that all he thinks of?"

"Nah, 'e wants ta shag ya an' all. I ain't tellin' ya nofin' else 'cause I fink I might actually puke. Seriously, it's doin' me 'ead in. So _do_ ya fancy 'im? 'Cause it's obvious 'e fancies you."

"Yeah? I doubt it. He's got that Ruth girl to shag and think about her tits. Seriously, I don't fancy him. Me and Nathan are just mates. That's all."

* * *

_"I fake it oh so well,  
That God himself can't tell,  
What I mean and why my words,  
Are less than parallel."  
_**-He Is We, "Breathe"**

* * *

**A/N- I'm not so sure about this chapter. Still, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Review? Xx Gee xX**


	6. Fancy That

**A/N- Heey everyboooody! Happy Mother's Day, y'all! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Six- Fancy That**

This was wrong. So amazingly, irrevocably WRONG. It was eight fifteen in the morning, and Nathan was awake. More than that, he was awake, dressed and actually _outside_ the community centre before me, leaning against the metal railings smoking a joint.

"Oh my God, it's a fucking miracle," I joked as I approached him. "Nathan, you're actually up and moving around before quarter to nine? Are you ill?" I put a hand on his forehead like I was feeling for a fever.

"What, can't a guy get up early for a relaxing smoke without getting interrogated?" he snapped, jerking away from me. Up close, his face looked drawn and paler than usual, and his eyes had dark purple bags under them.

I raised my eyebrows. "Jesus, what crawled into your arse and died? I'd've assumed you'd be all happy and shit."

"What makes you think that?" he said, dragging on his cigarette.

"I thought you said you were seeing Ruth last night and, I quote, 'picking up where you left off'? People don't tend to be pissed off after they get laid. Did she reject you or something?" I tried to sound sympathetic, but the truth was I was bursting to know what had happened to make him so pissed off.

"I don't feel the need to go into detail about what may or may not of happened last night," he said, still uncharacteristically angry. "Will you just fuck off and leave me alone?"

"Wow, alright. Christ alive, _someone's_ gotten up on the wrong side of the mattress," I muttered, turning my back on him and heading into the community centre.

Bloody hell, Nathan was in a bad mood. I'd never seen him like this before. I was so used to the prickish, dickheaded, arrogant Nathan who didn't give a flying fuck about what he said to you or what was said to him. I didn't know this new version, this snappish, bad-tempered version, and I didn't like it. Not one little bit.

* * *

I was standing in the main hall looking in my pocket mirror, painting on my (somewhat panda-ish) eye make-up when I heard Alisha's screech. "Get off me you pervert!"

Looking up from my mirror, I saw her run from the probation office, where she had been talking to a police officer about breaking her curfew again. She looked on the verge of tears, and I was worried about her.

"Alisha!" I called after her. "Alisha!" She totally ignored me, slamming through the hall doors. Sally Probation Worker came out of the office next, and I quickly grabbed her wrist.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, looking like she thought I was going to punch her or something.

"What's wrong with Alisha?" I asked urgently.

"There has been an incident," she replied curtly, pulling her arm from my grasp.

"That's not exactly insightful," I said, irritated. "What kind of incident?"

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to release that kind of information."

"For fuck sake, just tell me! Alisha's my mate, I'm worried about her!" I shouted.

Sally sighed. "It would appear that the police officer questioning her attempted to rape her."

"Oh my God," I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand.

"Now if you don't mind, I am going to go and see if she is okay," she said, turning on her heel and heading to the locker rooms.

Attempted rape my arse. I bet I knew what had happened. Alisha's power had gone akimbo and she'd accidentally touched the police guy. Man, she really had drawn the short straw. I half-thought it was partly her fault. She wanted people to find her attractive, and now she couldn't do anything but that if she touched them. Holy shit. That was it. I think I'd worked out why we'd got our. Was this what an epiphany felt like?

Alisha's slaggish/sluttish attitude had earned her the power to make people completely fall in lust with her. Curtis regretted everything that had happened to him, and now he could turn time backwards. Simon was constantly in the background feeling invisible, and now he could actually _turn_ invisible. Kelly was always worried about what people thought about her, and suddenly she could hear it. Whenever I was scared or angry people used to say it was like I was on fire, and now if I did become scared or angry I could burn things. It all made sense. Except for the fact Nathan couldn't do anything...

* * *

Oh God, the old people were back. Seriously, what was it with the over sixties thinking that us young offenders actually _enjoyed_ making them cups of tea and listening to stories of "when I were a lad"?!

Still, I had to admit that by mid-afternoon, I was actually half-enjoying myself. I'd abandoned making what seemed like endless cups of tea and taken to the dancefloor with Alisha, Curtis, Kelly and Simon. James Blunt's _You're Beautiful _was playing over the speakers, a song I'd loved ever since it had first come out.

I looked around at the others. Curtis and Alisha were dancing side-by-side with two other old people, Simon was awkwardly waving his arms in the air as he danced with some woman, Kelly was doing some hoppy-dance-type thing with the dude in the wheelchair from the other day, and Nathan was sitting in a chair, still sulking about God knows what. He hadn't spoken to any of us properly all day. He hadn't even insulted Simon, which got me really worried. I wanted to ask him what his problem was, but to be honest, I didn't want to fuck him off even more.

It was during me trying to teach my good friend Christine the Gangnam Style dance as _You're Beautiful_ played (which was no easy feat in skin-tight skinny jeans) that I saw Nathan actually stir. He made as though to get up, and I smiled at him, expecting him to see me. He didn't. Instead, he pulled a face of revulsion and leapt up from his chair with a cry of strangled horror. He pushed his way through the crowd of dancing OAPs and practically sprinted out of the doors, the glass wobbling as they shut with a bang.

* * *

Another hour passed. The old people dispersed from the community centre, and us ASBOees were sent to the locker rooms to change for the next three hours of litter picking. Nathan still hadn't returned from his runner, and I knew we needed to find him. Him randomly running away plus his freakish mood seemed like an equation for suicide. Or a drugs overdose. One of those.

It didn't take long. We found him skulking underneath the flyover. He was leaning against one of the concrete pillars and smoking.

"Nathan!" I called to him, causing him to turn to look at us.

"What happened to you?" demanded Curtis as we got closer.

"I will not be in a room where that song is playin'," Nathan replied, taking a drag on his cigarette. "Line in the sand, my friend." The five of us clad in orange all arranged ourselves around him where he was sitting. He looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Some old woman was lookin' for ya," said Kelly. Nathan looked even more uneasy, his eyes twitching around like he was thinking about something. Suddenly, Kelly's eyes widened in repulsion and she exclaimed, "Ya shagged 'er?!"

"What?!" I said. We all looked in shock from her, then to Nathan, who looked at us an gave a pathetic half-smile, dragging on his cigarette again.

"Yeah, yeah, nice one!" he grinned weakly. "I gave her a right good seein' to!" We all saw straight through his feeble attempt to deny it. It wasn't like he had done too good a job at disguising it. He must've been thinking about it for Kelly to hear him.

Various sounds of disgust were echoed around the group as I said, "You have got to be kidding me."

"You totally screwed her!" said Alisha with antipathy.

"No! No!" he cried, scrambling to his feet as Alisha shrieked with laughter.

"You nailed that old woman?!" said Curtis disgustedly, pointing at Nathan with his litter-picker. "Nah! That is wrong!"

"Did you enjoy it?" asked Simon. I was glad he finally had a window of opportunity in which to pay Nathan back for all the shitty remarks he'd made to Simon.

"Shut up, you little freak!" shouted Nathan, pointing at Simon furiously.

"I think he enjoyed it," Simon said, grinning at the rest of us.

I spluttered with laughter. "You fucked a grandma? That is just…so unbelievably fucked up!"

"She hasn't got any grandkids!" Nathan snapped.

"And that makes it so much better?" I retorted.

"Are you into that?!" said Curtis, still looking like he might vomit.

"No!" Nathan insisted. He made a noise of defeat. "She didn't look like that when we started! Remember that bird Ruth, from Tuesday? Beautiful, yeah? That wrinkly old bint? That's her! It was the storm. It made her young again."

"Please," Alisha giggled. "_Please_ tell me you didn't-" she proceeded to make an exceptionally explicit and suggestive gesture that involved her fingers and tongue (use you imagination). Nathan didn't need to say anything. The beaten and tragic look on his face was enough to confirm that yes, yes he had. I had to swallow hard to stop my breakfast making a reappearance while everyone else shrieked and cackled with laughter.

"He did! For God's sake!" screeched Alisha as Nathan gave us all a really aggravated smile and stalked off. I felt kinda bad for laughing at him now. He honestly hadn't known that Ruth was probably in her mid eighties. To him, she'd just been a pretty girl in a dress, someone to fuck and move on. Not that he'd be able to move on now. I assumed something like screwing an eighty-year-old would emotionally scar most people.

Evidently, Kelly also felt bad for blurting out Nathan's mishap as she hurried after him to what I guessed was apologise. From where I was stood with Alisha, Curtis and Simon, I couldn't hear what either of them were saying, but whatever it was Nathan was saying, it offended Kelly, as "Granny focker!" was soon echoing around the surrounding area.

* * *

As I sat in my living room watching my DVD of _(500) Days Of Summer _later that night, I felt I should go and see Nathan. If it was me (and I thanked fuck that it wasn't) I'd want to talk to someone. Then again, Nathan wasn't exactly the kind of guy who just chucked his feelings out into the open. Maybe it'd be best to give him the weekend to be by himself, let him calm down.

Sure enough, when I arrived at the community centre on Monday morning, things were half-back to normal as Nathan was still fast asleep on his mattress. I thought it would be mean to scream at him or chuck water in his face, so instead I resorted to poking him in the side with my foot a few times until his eyes fluttered open.

"Morning," I said, mimicking Fred Weasley from _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One_.

"You feelin' alright there, Scorch?" he yawned, sitting up and stretching.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, puzzled.

"That's the first time in two weeks that you haven't screamed in my ear or thrown water in my face," he replied. "So I guess that you've got some kind of illness that stops ya from doing them."

"Trés hilarious, Nathan. I didn't want to give you a heart attack as I figured you'd still be feeling pretty rough from Friday."

At the mention of Friday's…interesting events, Nathan's face clouded over and he quickly said, "What time is it?

"Half eight. I suppose we should go get changed for another day of boring, mindless shit."

"I told ya there was ova people that got messed op by the storm and you didn't even believe me," Kelly said to Nathan ten minutes later in the locker rooms.

"Yeah, well, I was wrong, wasn't I?" he retorted, leaning against his locker. "There's a hurricane of weird shit out there." As a response, Alisha repeated the same graphic gesture she'd used yesterday. "Oh, another oral sex gag? Brilliant!" he scoffed sarcastically.

"Is it weird that I actually feel kind of relieved that there are other people like us?" I said, pulling my jumpsuit over my legs. "I don't feel like such a freak now."

"We need to be ready for when they come after us," Simon said intensely, shutting his locker.

"Wot are ya talkin' about?" demanded Kelly.

"The other people who got caught up in the storm," he answered.

"Why would they come after us?" asked Curtis, throwing out his arms in a kind of _Well? _gesture.

"Because that's what people do," replied Simon.

"Yeah, well if they do, we'll just tell them it was all your fault," Nathan said dismissively, turning and opening his locker.

I pulled a cigarette out of my bag and stuck it in my mouth, lighting it as I did so. Simon's comment had slightly freaked me out, and the cigarette helped calm my nerves.

Of course, that was totally shattered when Nathan nervously said, "You know that…note you found in your locker? I think it _was_ talking about the probation worker." We all turned to look at him. There, taped to the door of his locker, was a missing persons poster of Tony, the first probation worker. Scribbled harshly along the bottom in black Sharpie were the words I KNOW. All of us had gathered around Nathan's locker, all of us just staring at the note.

"Holy fucking shit," I muttered. "This can't be good."

"Brilliant observation there, Scorch," said Nathan.

"Oh shut up. Right. Okay. Time to breath. Let's think logically. Okay, it's obvious that they're just trying to scare us. You said so yourself the other day," I pointed out. "They'd have gone to the police by now, and we'd be in those God-awful striped uniforms eating fried slop for breakfast. But we're not. We're here, and we're safe. We just need to calm the fuck down and relax. JUST RELAX." I was breathing quite hard, and I felt kind of sick.

"You might wanna try takin' a leaf out of your own book, then," Nathan suggested. He had a point. If I freaked out too much my power would kick in and I'd probably end up setting fire to the community centre or something.

"Yeah. Yeah, she's right," Alisha said quietly, her hands shaking slightly. I went to give her a reassuring squeeze, then quickly remembered her power. My arm froze in mid-air, and I had to make as though I was stretching. Alisha looked at me weirdly and moved to the mirror to put on her make-up.

"See?" I jabbed my thumb in her direction. "The girl talks sense. Now let's think. Who do we know who may or may not know that we killed our probation worker?" I whispered the last four words.

"Do you think it could be Sally?" said Simon.

"Who's Sally?" asked Curtis.

"The probation worker, you twat," I replied.

"Ooh, _Sally_?" Nathan said in a really stupid voice. "How do you two know her name?"

"She told us!" said Simon.

"Well you two are twats because _Sally_ didn't show up till the day _after_ we killed the other probation worker," he retorted. "I suppose you both know his name to?"

"Tony!" I said at the same time as Simon, except I was slightly louder.

Nathan mock-gasped, "Do you love him?"

"Don't be a dick, Nathan," I replied, smacking him in the back of the head. "It's not our fault that you seem to have lost the capability to listen to anyone properly."

"'E's right, though," said Kelly. "She wasn't 'ere."

"If I'm invisible, I can see if anyone puts anything else in our lockers," Simon offered.

"Hey, good idea," I said, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "It's like we've got our own personal CCTV camera. No sarcasm intended."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," agreed Curtis, who turned to look at Alisha and flashed her his supposed 'attractive face'. "You alright with that, yeah?"

Apparently though, Alisha was attracted to people who looked like they were having trouble taking a piss as she replied with a smirk, "Works for me." Oh God, the matching up was beginning already.

"Go on then," said Curtis, reluctantly tearing his eyes away from Alisha and looking at Simon. "Turn invisible." We all looked at Simon expectantly.

"I can't do it when everyone's watching me," he said, looking like a rabbit caught in some headlights.

"So I guess it's like pissin' at a urinal if you've got a tiny cock?" taunted Nathan, pointing at Simon's crotch. Simon blushed slightly.

"Oh come on. You're such a twat Nathan," I said scornfully. "It's not exactly like any of us can control our powers is it?" My words fell on deaf ears as everyone still looked at Simon with expectancy. However, it evidently wasn't going to happen as Simon remained perfectly visible.

"Well, that's, er, really impressive," Alisha said with a not-so-subtle undertone of sarcasm, heading out the door, followed by Kelly, Curtis and Nathan. I put my hand on his arm and gave him a kind of sympathetic smile before following them.

* * *

We were met in the entrance hall by some (pretty good looking) guy who was probably a few years older than us. He introduced himself as a worker for a charity that specialized in sending clothes to disadvantaged countries. He asked us each to grab a bin bag that was on the floor and follow us to the main hall.

"Okay, so all these clothes have been donated by members of the public," he told us, opening the hall door and gesturing to the gigantic pile of clothes in the middle of the room.

"Holy fuck, that's a lot of clothes," I muttered.

"We need to sort them before we ship them out to Africa," Charity Guy continued.

"Just another day in paradise," said Alisha with derision.

"Yeah well, I'm sure the people receiving them will be really grateful for all your hard work," said Charity Guy.

"Yeah, they should be! They're getting a new wardrobe," said Alisha, dumping her bin bag in the pile, as did Nathan, Kelly and Curtis. Me, I decided it would be better to throw mine as hard as I could. It didn't occur to me that the bag wasn't sealed until all the clothes that were in the bag were also sailing through the air. Charity Guy gave me a really weird look.

"Shit. Sorry, dude," I said quickly.

"It's fine. Now, these are the categories they need to be sorted in to," he said. "It's children's clothes, shoes, coats, that kind of thing. Okay, so if you've got any questions, just ask."

Nathan thrust his hand into the air. Oh God. "If a bear and a shark had a fight, who would win?"

Before Charity Guy had a chance to reply, I butted in with, "The shark, obviously. Haven't you seen _Jaws_? Those motherfuckers would rip a bear apart!"

"Yeah, but sharks haven't got any legs. They'd be fucked on land!" said Nathan.

"No way," I insisted. "Sharks have got the whole 'fins' thing going on. They could use them to walk on!"

"Pfft. You are so wrong," Nathan said. He pointed at Charity Guy. "You're the only person who can settle this. Bear or shark?"

There was a silence as Charity Guy stared at the two of us in what I assumed was disbelief. Or confusion. Or just plain WTF. "If anyone's got any _relevant _questions, just ask." Alisha giggled at him. Charity Guy turned to go, before looking back at me and Nathan and saying, "If it's on dry land, I'd bet on the bear."

"No way! It'd be the shark! You're in denial!" I shouted after him as he left. As I did this, I noticed Alisha staring after him with a look that screamed that she thought he was hot. Personally, I thought he was good-looking, but way too blonde and do-gooder-ish. I preferred a bad boy, and blondes were waaay overrated anyhoo.

The second the hall door closed, Alisha and Curtis practically launched themselves into one of the piles of clothing, followed by Kelly. I started burying my way underneath one of the piles, trying to ignore the fusty kind of smell. I closed my hands around some kind of fabric and tunnelled back out again.

As I emerged into the light, I realised I'd grabbed a pair of plus-size woman's control knickers. Ew. Then I grinned to myself. Hehehe, prank time. Nathan had his back to me, rooting through a different pile. I snuck up behind him and pulled the knickers down over his head.

"What the fuck!" he shrieked, yanking them off of his face as I screeched with laughter. "Bloody hell, Scorch. You nearly gave me a fuckin' heart attack!"

"Who's the pantysniffer now?" I giggled.

"Oh you are so payin' for that one!" he said.

He closed his arms around my waist and picked me up easily, in the way someone would cradle a newborn baby. He swung me around a few times before releasing me and sending me flying through the air. Though I was screaming as I went through the air, as I hit the pile of clothing with a weird _oof_ noise, I had to burst out laughing, the whole thing was so ridiculous.

While that had happened, I realised Curtis and Alisha were behaving in a similar manner. Oh sweet Jesus. It was obvious the other two were flirting, and what Nathan and I had just done was practically a freakin' mirror-image of them.

Hold the fucking phone. Did that mean Nathan and I had just…flirted? When Nathan had picked me up, I had gotten that weirdo, butterfly-in-stomach feeling you get when someone you fancy touches you. Oh shitballs. Did that mean I fancied Nathan?

It made sense, I supposed. The insane jealousy I'd felt when I'd seen him talking to Ruth (on the inside I retched), the constant defensive sarcasm I used that I noticed came into play whenever I liked someone (I'd worked that out back in Year Nine), the way I seemed to go out of my way to see him in the morning, the last two weeks of seemingly light-hearted banter between us, and then the fluttery feeling I'd had just now.

"Hey, check dis out!" said Kelly suddenly, pulling a pair of SpongeBob pyjama bottoms over the top of her jumpsuit.

"Beautiful, _dahling_," I said quickly, trying to push the I-might-fancy-Nathan scenario out of my head. I reached into one of the piles and pulled out what looked like an actual ballerina's tutu dress. I pulled it down over my head and twirled around in a circle, feeling like a princess. I slipped on a rogue t-shirt and fell, landing headfirst in the pile of clothes Nathan was looking through.

"Very graceful," he commented, unearthing a ski boot and laughing. "Skiwear. Classic. Try walkin' ten miles to the well in these!"

"Yeah, it's well practical to send them to Africa," I said sarcastically. "Who the fuck donates skiwear to a country completely devoid of snow?"

"Twats," he answered, pulling out a pair of matching ski goggles and pulling them on. "Hey, hey, hey! Who am I?" He proceeded to make a noise like someone had thrown a Chihuahua into a blender. When he'd finished, none of us had a clue what had just come out of his mouth. "Come on! Okay. Okay, I'll give you a clue: I'm an annoying cunt!"

I snorted. "So…you're being yourself?"

"Funny," he snapped back. "I'm Bono!" he said as if it was obvious.

"Who's Bono?" I asked, frowning in confusion.

He sighed. "Oh dear, Scorch. We clearly need to educate your taste in music."

"Hey!" I protested. "My taste in music is gr-" I was interrupted by the front door opening and some girl in a leather jacket and cap walked in, accompanied by Sally the probation worker.

"Who's she?" asked Nathan, as if we had a clue.

I was surprised when Kelly answered, "Dis girl I 'ad a fight wiv. I've gotta do some 'restorative justice' bollocks wiv 'er."

I smirked, "Have fun. Those sessions are shit. They tried to get me to have one with my sister after I hit her with that baseball bat, and they had to end it ten minutes in because I nearly pulled out a handful of her hair."

Kelly looked at me like I was mental as Nathan gestured at Sally and said, "Hey, hey. Bono, yeah?"

"What?" was Sally's confused and totally bored reply.

Nathan dropped his arms in a frustration and said, "I don't know why I bother."

"Then don't," I suggested. Sally told Kelly to go into the probation office, and Kelly very unwillingly did so, standing up with a huff just as Charity Guy came back into the hall.

Alisha was holding up a really pretty white and red-polka dotted dress to herself, and Charity Guy grinned at her and said, "Suit's you." As he walked away again, I saw Alisha give him a seductive smile.

I rolled my eyes at Alisha's expression. I swear to God, every single guy who had walked through the community centre doors was automatically attracted to her. Granted, yes, she was beautiful, but she was one of those girls whose beauty didn't travel beneath the surface. Not that it stopped her parading around like she was queen of the fucking world.

Curtis caught the look as well, and sighed in a defeated kind of way. Poor guy. I felt for him. Him and Alisha would have made a proper adorable couple. However, Alisha did strike me as the girl who went for 'friends with benefits' rather than a full-on committed relationship.

"Uh oh," Nathan muttered to me. "Looks like the breaks have been pulled on that Shag Train."

"What a charming image," I muttered back, pulling a pair of rollerskates out of the pile. "Hey, check these out!"

"Ah, nice one!" Nathan exclaimed, ripping them out of my hand and pulling them on to his feet.

"Hey! I wanted those!" I whined like a little girl.

"Don't shit yourself, Scorch. Look." He also held up a pair of skates. "What size are you?"

"Er…an eight," I admitted, blushing slightly.

"Well today's your lucky day, Bigfoot," he joked, handing them to me. "Voila, size eight."

"Funny," I said sourly, putting them on and unsteadily standing up.

"Let's roll, Scorch," Nathan said, gesturing me to follow him to the wall he was leaning on.

"What are we doing, exactly?" I asked him, still extremely unstable on the skates

"This." Nathan pushed himself away from the wall and grabbed my hand so I was rolling along beside him. After a few seconds, I picked up enough confidence to skate by myself, but kept hold of Nathan's hand anyway.

As we approached the windows to the probation office, Nathan pulled me to him, put one arm around my waist and stuck our hands that were holding each other out so that it looked like we were dancing, and started making a noise like an opera singer.

We looked into the window as we glided past, and saw Kelly looking bored shitless, and the other girl looking like she was in a strop, although Kelly did grin when she saw us.

As we tried to turn around, Sally yanked open the office door, making us both jump and almost lose our footing.

"Both of you, take the rollerskates off!" We didn't move. "And the goggles," she added to Nathan. Again, we didn't move. "TAKE THEM OFF!" The sudden shout made me jump so badly that I completely lost my balance and toppled to the floor. Because I was still holding Nathan's hand, he came down with me, landing in a heap on top of me.

Oh shit. There was that feeling again. The butterflies one. Oh bugger. I had to admit it to myself. I fancied Nathan Young. Fancied him bad. Fuck.

* * *

_"I can't tell you what it really is,  
I can only tell you what it feels like.  
And right now,  
It's like a knife in my_ windpipe."  
**-Eminem ft. Rhianna, "Love The Way You Lie"**

* * *

**A/N- So aside from the crap ending, I'm quite happy with this chapter in all. Let me know what you think about it. Review? Pwease? Xx Gee xX**


	7. Dirty Work

**A/N- Hey, hey, hey! Here's chapter seven! And I'm uploading this at this moment even though I'm DESPERATE for a wee. And with that oh-so charming image, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven- Dirty Work**

I'm not going to lie, having Nathan lying on top of me with his mouth inches away from my own made me feel only slightly awkward *cough* understatement *cough*. His green eyes stared into my blue ones for a few seconds, before I quickly came to my senses and pushed him off of me.

"Jesus! Easy there, Scorch!" he said, standing up and dusting himself down.

"Sorry," I said, standing up myself. "But the way you were laying on me was cutting off any form of oxygen to my lungs."

"You loved it," he said, winking, as we walked back to where Alisha and Curtis were. Alisha had put on a silver minidress and climbed on to one of the tables, and Curtis was wearing a white top hat and carrying a cane.

I picked up a silvery-white blazer and threw it to Nathan. "Hey, this is so you." He stuffed his arms into the sleeves and struck a pose. I laughed at him and wrapped what looked like a fake-mink coat around my shoulders.

Suddenly, there was a scream of "You slut whore!" We turned to see Sally hustling the girl in the cap out of the probation office. A chair came sailing out of the door, followed by Kelly's angry yell of, "Shove off, ya twat!"She came storming out of the office herself, glaring after the other two. "I was try'na be nice!" She glared at Nathan, Curtis, Alisha and I before turning and stomping from the hall.

"I think that went well," said Curtis.

"I told her that restorative justice was a shit idea," I said in a sing-song voice.

"Talking of shit, I'm bored shitless," said Alisha, yawning and hopping down from the table. "I'm going outside. You coming?" she said this to Curtis, who gave her his 'sexy look' and the two of them headed out the door.

"Maybe I was wrong," noted Nathan. "Looks like the Shag Train is rollin' straight into Fuck Station."

"Seriously, will you stop saying that?" I said. "You sound like that Rape Sloth." I shrugged the coat off my shoulders and dumped it on the _COATS_ table. The two of us stayed in the hall for another twenty minutes, mindlessly throwing clothes at each other and laughing.

Eventually though, I stood up and stretched. "Jesus, my legs are dead. I'm gonna go find Kelly. You coming?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm dyin' to know what happened," Nathan replied, taking of his blazer.

Kelly was standing around in the entrance hall, smoking and looking severely pissed off. When she saw us coming, she dropped her cigarette and stubbed it out before going into the locker room. We followed her in, Curtis catching up with us. I looked around, but there was no Alisha.

"Praaaise restorative justice!" Nathan sang after Kelly.

"I was only sayin' that the lad she used ta go out wiv was a dick!" she said defensively. "I was only bein' nice!"

"Oh yeah, you were bein' lovely," Nathan said sarcastically. "Right up until you threw the chair at her!"

"I did say it was a waste of time," I said, opening my locker and pulling out a floral skirt. "The only thing restorative justice did for me was earn me another five sessions of anger management."

Suddenly, Curtis slammed his hand against his locker and exclaimed, "You don't be doin' that shit around me!" I turned to look at him, and saw Simon standing by Curtis, a weird expression on his face. Curtis gave him a curious look. "You been in here all day?"

Simon grinned oddly at him, "Yep."

"And? Did anyone come in?" I asked urgently. "Did anything happen?"

With the creepy little smile still on his face, Simon replied, "No, nothing. No one came in."

Nathan gave a gasp and sarcastically said, "That's an anti-climax!"

I elbowed him in the ribs. "Stop being a dick. It's not his fault that nobody decided to come in and leave another threatening note for us." I removed my jumpsuit and pulled up my skirt, arranging it so that it was pulled up to my waist and the hem sat neatly across the middle of my thighs.

"You appear to have forgotten your top, Scorch," Nathan smirked, pointing at my boobs. I looked down and sure enough, I had forgotten to put my vest back on, leaving my leopard print bra on show to the whole world, including Nathan, Simon and Curtis.

"Shit. Awkwaaard," I muttered, rummaging in my locker until I found the scrappy piece of white vest-shaped fabric. I tugged it down over my head and tucked it into my skirt, my face flaming. I'm such a twat.

* * *

The next morning, I decided to take the long route to the community centre. It was a lovely day, and I thought the sunshine and fresh air would do me some good. As I approached the fly-over, I saw Simon a few metres ahead of me.

"Simon!" I called, waving. He didn't turn around. "Simon!" Still nothing. "Hello, Simon?" Was he ignoring me? "OI! COCKSUCKER!" This got his attention.

He stopped and turned around. I saw him pull a set of headphones out of his ears. Fuck. "Were you talking to me?" He looked a bit hurt.

I jogged over to him and put a hand on his arm. "Sorry, Simon. I thought you were ignoring me."

"Did you call me a…cocksucker?" he asked.

"Er…yeah. Sorry," I said again embarrassedly, running a hand through my hair. "I didn't mean it."

"It's all right. I'm used to it from Nathan."

"You don't have to put up with all his shit, you know," I said gently. "I don't."

"But I'm not like you. I don't know how to comeback at people," Simon said quietly.

"You don't need to. You just need to stand up for yourself."

"I can't." We walked in an awkward silence for a few minutes, until Simon said, "So, you like Batman?" He pointed at the symbol on my black t-shirt.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I've been a big fan for a few years now."

"How old were you when you started?"

"Oh. Y'know. I think…" I trailed off, then decided I may as well tell him. "Okay, don't laugh. I was fifteen."

"I wouldn't laugh. I know how that feels."

"So who's your favourite character?" I asked. "In Batman, I mean."

"I don't really have one," he replied. "Why, do you?"

"Yeah. I've always loved Harley. You know, Harley Quinn?" I said.

"You mean The Joker's girlfriend?"

"Yeah, her. She's amazing. My friends always said I reminded them of her, what with the hopeless romanticism, the kookiness, the clumsiness..." As if on cue, I got my foot caught under an exposed root as we headed down the dirt trail and tripped, landing flat on my face. "Fuck. Everything." I scrambled to my feet, dusting mud off my skinny jeans.

Simon laughed quietly. "I guess I can see where they were coming from."

"Hey!" I shoved him lightly.

"So, do you…like other comics? Or just Batman?"

"Well, I'll always say DC was my first comic love," I explained. "But I also adore The Avengers."

Our comic talk lasted a little while longer, and I felt like I was getting to know the real Simon, not the little shell-boy I had met three weeks.

"So, let me get this straight. You honestly believe," I said, laughing. "That if Lex Luthor and Loki had a fight, Luthor would _win_? Are you serious?!"

"Yes! Loki may be an Asgardian, but Luthor has the technology to completely destroy him!"

"Yeah, but Loki has the big glowing stick of destiny that has the power to completely blow Luthor apart!" I folded my arms triumphantly. "So stick that up your arse and set it on fire!"

"You can't use Avengers quotes to back up your argument!"

"Just did! Oh! Game, set and match to Miss Georgia Riches!" I danced around in a circle. I was suddenly interrupted by what sounded like heavy machinery. Or tractors. Simon and I rounded the first pillar of the fly-over and were confronted with the sight of a load of builders with spades, jackhammers and even fricking bulldozers. Fuck.

"Oh shit!" I hissed, grabbing Simon's hand out of shock and fear. "Are they digging where we buried the probation worker?!"

"I'm not sure. I think so. Ow!" he cried in pain, pulling his hand out of mine. He held his hand up to look at it, and I saw a small red burn that hadn't been there before I held his hand.

"Oh my God, sorry!" I said frantically.

"It's fine," he said, before hurrying over to the nearest builder. "Excuse me!"

"Yes, son?" said the builder.

"What are you building here?" Simon asked him.

"It's an environmental monitoring station, lad," said the builder. "It measures the carbon monoxide levels. Why do you ask?"

"Oh. It's just this thing we're doing at college," I answered quickly. "It's a, er...report! Yeah! A report on the local area. Thanks, sir." I grabbed Simon by the arm and dragged him away. When we were away from the fly-over I quickly said, "We need to get to the community centre. Now."

* * *

When we arrived at to the community centre, there was nobody in sight. We checked the entrance hall, the main hall, the locker room, hell, I even checked the girls' toilets. Nothing.

"The roof," Simon suddenly said.

"Good call," I replied, heading up the stairs that lead to the roof.

When Simon and I burst through the door, sure enough, there was Nathan sitting in one of the chairs glaring at a wine bottle, his fingers pressed to his temples, and Curtis was also there, reclining back on the lounger, his arm over his eyes.

"Okay, we have got one mega motherfucker of a problem!" I announced to the two of them.

"Will you shut up!" Nathan said snippily. "I nearly had it!"

"What's he doing?" Simon asked Curtis.

"He's tryin' to smash the bottle with his mind," replied Curtis, sounding bored. Needless to say, Nathan started jabbing his arms at the bottle and making constipated noises in his attempt to break it with his mind. Like that guy from _X-Men_. Doctor Xavier? Oh, who cared? I hated _X-Men _anyway. No, stop it! Focus on the problem at hand, Georgia!

Curtis sat up and stared at Nathan in exasperated disgust. "I think he's gonna shit himself."

Nathan's face was becoming more and more annoyed, until he flung his leg out and knocked the bottle flying with an angry cry of "Bullshit!" The bottle hit the concrete and smashed into about forty pieces.

"Well done. You did it," I said sarcastically. "Now will you listen to us!"

"I've got a power, I know it! I can feel it in my balls!" he insisted, grabbing at them. Charming.

"We've got a problem!" Simon said, parroting me.

Nathan totally ignored him and turned to Curtis. "It's like a soft…vibratin'. You get that, yeah?"

Curtis raised an eyebrow at him and tersely said, "No."

"They're gonna dig up the bodies!" Simon and I exclaimed at the same time.

Nathan looked at us sharply and Curtis moved round in an actual sitting position. "What are you on about?" he asked.

"They're building an environmental monitoring station under the fly-over!" Simon elaborated.

"They're building a what?" said Nathan. "That sounds made up, are we supposed to know what that is?"

"It's to measure the carbon monoxide from the fly-over! When they dig the foundations they'll find the bodies!" Simon's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Look, what it is isn't important!" I snapped. "What's important is working out what the fuck we're gonna do about it!"

Just then, the roof door open and Alisha sauntered out, looking a bit ruffled. "Hey, the probation worker's here. She's freaking out 'cause you lot are all, like, AWOL."

I sighed. "Alisha, there's something we need to tell you."

* * *

"We need to move them!" Curtis hissed twenty minutes later as we sat in the main hall sorting through the clothes again.

"Oh, a couple of questions," Nathan whispered, adjusting the sports bra he'd put on over his jumpsuit. "How? Where? Are you out of your mind?"

"If we leave them there, they'll find them!" Curtis replied.

"Oh, whereas diggin' 'em up and walkin' around with 'em, that's a real low-risk strategy!" Nathan hissed sarcastically.

"Well what do you recommend doing then?" I whispered angrily.

"Well, why doesn't he-" Nathan made whistling noises and twirled his fingers around to indicate going back in time. "And stop us killing the probation worker in the first place?!"

"You show me how it works and I'll do it!" Curtis said irritatedly. There was a slightly awkward silence in which Nathan seemed to actually realise he was wrong for a change.

"We need a car!" said Simon.

"Have you got a car?" Nathan asked him.

Simon shook his head. "No."

"Great, maybe we should call a cab!" Nathan said with disdain. "Better make it a seven seater!"

All of a sudden, the front doors open and Kelly walked in, seriously late, even for a young offender. She looked different to how she usually did. Though she was still wearing pink trackies and a blue shirt, her hair was down, a cap was clamped down on her head and a pair of sunglasses were firmly over her eyes. It was a look that screamed _hangover from hell_.

"Kelly? Are you alright?" I asked her.

"'M fine," was her quiet reply.

"Where've you been?" demanded Alisha.

"Had ta go ta doctor's" she said shadily, adjusting her sunglasses.

"Yeah? Well while you were gettin' your smear test- BIG SHOCK! We found out the bodies are about to be dug up!" Nathan hissed to her.

"They're building an environmental monitoring station under the fly-over, right where we buried them, shock horror," I explained tiredly, rubbing at my forehead where I felt a headache coming on in the worst way.

"Sounds like bullshit, right?" said Nathan.

"Can you steal a car?" Alisha asked her suddenly. Curtis turned and asked her the same thing.

"Will ya all fuck off?" Kelly said heatedly, storming over to the _SHOES _table and pushing a load off so she could sit down.

"Alright, touchy," said Nathan. "Come on, look!" He stood up. "We're a bunch of young offenders and not one of us knows how to steal a car? That is pathetic!"

"Yeah, well to be honest, I've had better things to do with my life than learn how to hotwire a car," I replied, standing up as well and flicking a skirt at him.

"What, like beating up children with sports equipment?" he quipped.

"Okay, first, she isn't a child, per say, she's fifteen! And second, I didn't beat her up, I hit her in the face several times! There is a difference!"

Nathan opened his mouth to reply, but Alisha stood up and butted in with, "Look, I'll borrow my dad's car!" Nathan clicked his fingers and pointed to her in agreement.

"'Cause you're banned from driving, so that makes sense, right?" Curtis said derisively.

"Oh, you're like a whiny little bitch!" Alisha snapped at him.

"Guys, guys, guys, come on!" Nathan said, clapping at them before moving to stand between them. "We need to work together!" He put an arm around each of their shoulders. "Think of it as a team building exercise, huh? I'm feelin' this! Are we feelin' this?"

"Prick," Alisha spat, jerking away from him. Curtis did the same, angrily throwing the t-shirt he was holding into one of the piles of clothes, leaving Nathan awkwardly standing there.

"You should be one of them motivational speakers," I said to him. "You'd make shitloads of cash!"

"Funny thing, I always wanted to do that," he shot back. "By that, I mean makin' shitloads of cash. So Scorch," He draped an arm around my shoulders. "You feelin' the team buildin'?"

I grinned at him. "Sure. Let's rock this shit."

* * *

"Right, I'm not being funny," I said much later that evening. "But how the fuck are we all meant to fit in there?" It was half nine at night, and I was staring at the car Alisha had brought for us to move the bodies.

"It'll work," Alisha said confidently. "Somehow. So what are we gonna do with the bodies when we dig them up, anyway?"

"We…weigh 'em down and toss 'em in the lake!" replied Curtis with certainty, handing Alisha a bundle of blankets and rope to put in the boot.

"Yeah, we do that, and you know what happens next week?" said Nathan, chucking in a spade. "The council are all like, 'let's drag the lake'. So predictable."

"Yeah, so we bury them somewhere else," said Alisha, opening the driver's seat door.

"Oh, but enough with the diggin' and the buryin' already!" Nathan whinged.

"You come up with somethin' then!" said Curtis, sounding annoyed.

There was a pause. Then. "We boil them in a bath of sulphuric acid, serial killer-style!" he proclaimed.

"Yeah, and where exactly are we supposed to get sulphuric acid from?" I asked him, raising my eyebrow.

"We'll find a place," he said flippantly, climbing into the passenger seat.

Because Simon, Curtis and Kelly had all taken the backseat, I found myself in the front with Nathan and Alisha, perched on Nathan's lap. It was weird though, because I didn't mind anywhere near as much as I thought I would.

"We could store them in the community centre until we decide what to do with them," Simon suggested.

"Oh great, the community centre!" Curtis sneered. "Because they have a special room for storing rotten corpses!"

"There's a disused storeroom upstairs," Nathan said absent-mindedly. "I've got a key." Oh good one. I wondered if he'd realised he'd just basically revealed he was homeless.

"Why've ya got a key?" asked Kelly.

Silence. A lot of that seemed to be happening over the last few days. But eventually, Nathan spoke, "I nicked 'em because I'm livin' in the community centre, okay! Happy? Big secret revealed!" There was yet another silence in which Nathan let the news of his homelessness sink in to everyone, before he gestured around me at the dashboard. "This is a sweet ride!" Alisha grinned at him and started the engine before pulling away from the community centre.

During our oh-so relaxed (not) drive to the fly-over-slash-makeshift grave, I felt something poking uncomfortably into my behind.

"Ow. Nathan," I said, shifting around on his lap. "Can you move whatever that is in your pocket because it's sticking right up my arse and it kinda hurts."

"I can't do that, love."

"Why not?" I demanded, turning slightly to look at him.

He smirked. "Because I haven't got anything in my pocket."

Everyone made a noise of disgust except me. It took me a second to work out what he was on about. But then it hit me. "Oh my God, Nathan! Urgh! Don't you have any inhibitions?!"

"Not really no."

"Seriously! That is just fucking wrong!" Nice, real nice. Here I was, heading out to dig up my dead ex-probation worker, and Nathan was still unable to control his testosterone. Honestly, just because I was sitting on his lap was no reason for him to get a hard-on, for God's sake. Although to be honest, I was actually half-flattered…no! Seriously, I needed to sort my priorities out, and right now, my priority was to get through the next few hours without either puking, fainting or setting fire to something.

* * *

Okay, so I now knew how the mass murderers in movies felt when they were about to be discovered. Un-digging graves is uncomfortable, tiring and messy. By the time we were about three foot into the grave, I was sweaty, exhausted and my jeans were coated in mud. And the smell…urgh, the smell.

Imagine dog shit, dead fish and soured milk all mixed together with a stick wrapped in PE socks that haven't been washed in seven years. That's what it smelt like. It was the officially foulest thing that had ever come into contact with my nostrils. And I'd had to change my little brother's nappy when he had diarrhoea. Not exactly the greatest task for a ten-year-old to do.

"Ah, man! It stinks!" groaned Curtis, pausing his digging and recoiling from the stench, his arm over his nose.

"And the prize for the most obvious comment of the night goes to Curtis Donovan!" I said sarcastically, leaning on my spade and applauding him. He was about to reply, a narked expression on his face, but was interrupted by Nathan bending over and retching into the half-emptied grave.

"Please don't be sick!" I pleaded. "If you puke, I'll puke! And _nobody_ wants to see that!"

"I'm fine!" he moaned, straightening up and continuing to dig. "I'm fine…" As he thrusted his spade into the dirt, there was this sickening squelchy-crunchy noise…something that vaguely sounded like metal hitting flesh. "I've got somethin'!" He used his spade to dust off whatever it was, and flipped it over. The 'it' in question turned out to be the probation worker's now-severed hand.

"Oops," he said, looking completely grossed out.

My stomach churned. "Yep. Here comes the vomit…" I turned away from everyone and was sick quite loudly, but luckily it neatly missed my shoes. There were several noises of disgust around the group, but I didn't really give a fuck. I wiped my mouth on my jacket sleeve, popped a piece of mint chewing gum in my mouth and looked apologetically at the others. "Sorry about that."

After my little incident, the boys decided for me that it would be best for me to stand to the side with Alisha and Kelly and hold one of the torches. The boys kept digging…and it seemed like it took forever. But eventually, the bodies of the probation worker and Gary the Gangster were completely unearthed, and the sight of their decomposed corpses very nearly made me puke again.

Thankfully, so I wouldn't have to go anywhere near the bodies, I volunteered for the task of re-filling the grave, and so did Nathan. As Simon, Curtis, Alisha and Kelly all helped wrap the bodies in the blankets, the two of us quietly chucked the dirt back into the hole, the only noise being the scraping of the spades, until Nathan spoke.

"So are you alright now Scorch?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I frowned.

"Well, I haven't heard you make any sarcastic comments to me in the past hour, nor have you hit me. Plus, y'know, the whole-" he mimed me being sick. "I'm worried about ya."

"No. I'm fine. It's just I'm allergic to the smell of decaying corpses," I shot back.

"Seriously?"

"No, not seriously, you twat," I sighed, shaking my head. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm havin' the time of my fuckin' life. This is totally how I envisioned my community service- buryin' my probation worker."

"I know right? I can guarantee this is the kind of thing that will get me in a dumped in a place like Arkham Asylum," I commented.

"Where?" Nathan raised an eyebrow at me.

"It's the mental asylum in Batman. No? You've never played _Arkham Asylum_? Seriously? Dude, you have not lived! Anyway, that's not important, nor is it what I meant. I mean, in the car, you seemed real bummed out."

"I don't exactly relish in the fact everyone knows I'm homeless," he replied.

"Yeah, I guess so. But maybe it's better that everyone knows?" I said. "You don't have to bother lying about it now."

"Yeah, but do we all really need to be that intimate with each other's lives?" he retorted. "No. I don't think so. Not so big on the sharin'!" By now we'd finished filling in the grave, and he huffed away in the direction of the car, still carrying the probation worker's detached hand.

"Alright, Mr Sensitive," I called after him, dragging my spade along the floor as I really couldn't be bothered to carry it. "Sorry I mentioned it!" I dumped the spade in the boot and went and sat in the passenger seat of the car next to Alisha.

"You feeling alright now?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Except that I'm now really, really hungry," I answered.

"Good. I don't want puke in my car," she said.

"I thought it was your dad's car?" I shot back. Suddenly, something landed on the windscreen with a nauseating _splat_ sound. "Holy fucker!" It was the probation worker's hand. Ick.

"Jesus!" gasped Alisha.

Nathan appeared in front of the glass and picked up the hand. He waved it at us and shouted, "Sorry!"

"Prick!" I yelled at him, putting my hand on my chest and trying to slow down my heart rate, as it felt like my heart my burst through my torso.

"For fuck sake," Alisha grumbled, flicking on the ignition. My door suddenly opened, causing my heart rate to rocket back up again. "Come on, Scorch, make room," came Nathan's voice.

"Can't you just sit in the back?" I groaned. "I'm comfortable here."

"I called shotgun!" he whined.

"No you didn't!" I said, folding my arms.

"Well, I'm callin' it now," he said. He suddenly grabbed hold of one of my legs and pulled, trying to physically drag me out of the car.

"Fucking hell, Nathan! Get off me!" I shrieked, gripping onto the seat. I could see the others looking at us with expressions of _Seriously? Is now really the time?_. I tried to kick Nathan in the face, but he dodged it easily. "Let go!"

At this point, my legs were hanging out of the car as he pulled me. My nails were scraping against the nylon seat and I was totally aware of the fact I was losing.

"For fock sake, will ya bof jost get in the fockin' car!" came Kelly's angry voice. In the few seconds I was distracted, Nathan managed to yank my leg hard enough that I flew out of the car, landing in a heap just outside the door. He laughed at me and practically jumped over my head to get in the car.

"And where exactly am I supposed to sit?!" I said.

"Same place as before," he replied, patting his legs patronizingly.

"Fine," I muttered, climbing into the car and sitting on his lap. "But in all seriousness, if you get another boner I will _not_ hesitate to snap your dick in two."

* * *

_"I've noticed your eyes are,  
Always glued to me.  
Keeping them here,  
It makes no sense at all."  
**-**_**Paramore, "Crushcrushcrush"**

* * *

**A/N- This is a critical plea: I am getting desperate for more reviews! I love you guys, and I'm so thankful that you're taking the time to read my story, but I have hardly any idea what y'all are thinking! Please, please, **_**please**_** review! They make me sooo happy and I'll put a thank-you at the beginning of the next chapter to all of you that do! So if you're reading this, I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER IF YOU REVIEW FOR ME! *coughs* Thanks guys! Xx Gee xX**


	8. The Clock Is Ticking

**A/N- Waah! I've cleared 1,000 views! Such amazing thank-yous to Madame Lizzie and It Belongs In A Museum for answering my desperate pleas of help! Be warned, this is more of a serious chapter than usual.**

* * *

**Chapter Eight- The Clock Is Ticking**

Have you ever had to carry a decaying corpse into a building without attracting any attention whatsoever? Well, I'm seriously hoping the answer is no, so I'll tell you what it's like.

Fucking terrifying.

I honest to God thought our cover was going to be blown straight out of the water the second we set foot in the community centre. Even though the building was obviously totally empty, I was convinced someone was going to randomly walk in and catch us. I was so scared, every time someone made an especially loud footstep, I practically jumped out of my skin.

Kelly and I were carrying one of the corpses (despite my many, many pleas to go nowhere near them), me carrying the head and Kelly bringing up the legs. I was going to have to put my clothes in a paper shredder the second I got home, otherwise there'd be no way of getting the stench of decomposing corpse off of me.

Simon and Alisha had already dragged the first body into the storeroom, and I was halfway in when Nathan said to Kelly, "I like your cap."

"No!" Kelly shrieked as Nathan pulled her cap off…along with all of her hair. What the fuck? She attempted to cover her now-bald head with her hands (albeit unsuccessfully) and fled from the room as Alisha, Simon and Curtis came out of the storeroom, leaving Nathan standing there, her cap and what I now realised was a wig in his hand.

"Did you know she was bald?" asked Simon.

"'Course not! Twat," Nathan snapped. "Jesus…"

"She looked like an alien," commented Alisha, not to care about Kelly's feelings at all.

"Aw, don't be mean," Nathan reprimanded, before snorting with laughter. "She did, didn't she? Like a bald alien."

"Wow, you guys are lovely, aren't you?" I said sarcastically. "There's obviously something wrong with her. Your hair doesn't just fall out, especially not overnight."

"Pfft, it's probably nothin'. She probably shaved it off when she got pissed last night or somethin'. But I should probably try and find her. Y'know-" Nathan held up the cap and wig before hurrying after Kelly.

To say the mood became uncomfortable after that would be the understatement of the century. I swear, the atmosphere between Alisha and Curtis was so awkward I could have cut out a chunk of it with a knife.

"Sooo…" I said, whistling slightly. I pulled out my phone. "Oh wow, is that the time? I am so tired, I'm gonna get going. Simon, come on."

"What?" Wow, was he _really_ that slow to catch on?

"You're walking me home," I said firmly.

"Oh, okay," he said warily.

I waved cheerily at Alisha and Curtis. "See you guys tomorrow, then." I turned to Simon and gestured at him to follow me. "Let's go."

As we emerged from the community centre doors into the darkness outside, there was no sign of either Kelly or Nathan. I wondered if he had managed to catch up to her yet. I had a feeling when he did, she'd have a _lot_ of stuff to say to him. And I also had a feeling none of it would be friendly.

There was a sudden gust of wind that blew my hair around my face, and I could smell the sour-corpse stench on it. Urgh. I felt exhausted and ill. I just wanted to go home, curl up under the shower and then collapse into bed. Today had been one massive, terrifying, emotionally draining, exhausting pile of wank. I suddenly felt like I was going to cry, tears starting to well up in my eyes. No, stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop the public display of emotion! Despite desperately trying to smother it, a small choked noise escaped my throat.

"Are you okay?" Simon asked.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" My voice cracked slightly under the pressure of suppressed tears.

"Everything that's just happened," he replied. "You've been very quiet, and you were sick. Are you sure everything's okay?"

I sighed. "Honestly? No. I've just had to unbury two dead bodies and hide them in a community centre storage room. I feel sick, I stink of rotting corpse and I'm convinced that we're gonna get arrested in the next forty-eight hours. I'm scared, Simon. I'm so scared." I suddenly threw my arms around his neck and hugged him, starting to cry properly.

Though hesitant, Simon's arms closed around my waist. It felt nice. I had no idea why I'd just spilled all this to him. But to be honest, at the moment I felt so vulnerable and weak that I just wanted someone to talk to, and Simon seemed like the only person in our little group who wouldn't judge me, like the one person I could trust to be a good friend.

"We're all scared," he said quietly.

"I can't do this anymore," I mumbled into his chest. "I can't. I don't want to."

"None of us do," he replied. I looked at him, my face damp with tears, and he looked at me seriously. "But we have to."

* * *

I spent the night drifting in and out of a fitful, dream-fuelled sleep. Well, they were more like nightmares. Zombie probation workers eating my brains were never going to be pleasant thoughts, were they?

On the plus side, because I'd slept so badly, I was awake half an hour before my alarm was due to go off, meaning I had time for another shower before I left.

As I stood underneath the hot water, the heat unwinding all the stressful knots in my back, I felt myself chilling out, which was ironic, considering the water was so hot I was slowly turning the same colour as a sunburned lobster. Today we were going to find a more permanent place to bury the bodies, because they'd obviously be found if we left them in the storeroom.

I couldn't be bothered to worry about how I looked, but to keep up all pretences I dressed in my favourite black high-waisted shorts, a pink low-cut vest decorated with little white hearts and a pair of black sandals. I still felt slightly sick, so I didn't bother eating breakfast. Instead, I made myself an extra large, extra strong mug of coffee with about four spoonfuls of sugar. It's good for shock, okay?

I decided to take the long route to the community centre again, hoping that I'd be able to catch up with Simon. Sure enough, as I came to the end of the dirt path that lead to the fly-over, there he was, standing behind one of the pillars watching the builders dig what I assumed were the foundations for the environmental monitoring station.

"Hey," I said as I came up behind him, making him jump.

"Oh, hi," he said, smiling at me, a smile that I returned. "How are you feeling today?"

"Meh, alright, I guess. Still feeling a bit freaked out, but hey-ho," I said, shrugging. "What are you doing, anyway?"

"I was just seeing if the builders had noticed where we dug last night," he answered.

"Oh, right. I think we're good on that front. Come on, we should probably get going, otherwise we'll be seriously late." Simon nodded, and the two of us headed off in the direction of the community centre. It was weird- when we'd first started our community service, Simon and I had said barely two words to each other. Literally. I don't even think I directly spoke to him that first day. Oh no, wait, I think I called him a dickhead after the lightning struck. But now was different. Though I was relatively close to everyone, I felt the closest to Simon, the weird, nerdy little stalker that he was. He kept me sane. He was my friend.

"I've had an idea," said Simon, jolting me out of my over-sentimental thoughts.

"About what?" I frowned.

"What to do with the bodies," he replied.

"Thank God. Nobody else is gonna be bright enough to think of anything," I said. "I was going to suggest setting fire to them and burying the ashes but hey, I'm open to negotiation. What's your plan?"

"Not here. I'll tell you with the others," he said quickly.

"Oh, so I'm just one of 'the others', am I?" I demanded, but jokingly.

"No, I didn't mean that," he said.

"No no, I get it. It's fine," I said in a sarcastically dramatic voice. "I thought we were friends, but apparently not."

"We're friends?" Simon asked.

"Of course we're friends," I said, surprised. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I don't know. The others don't seem to regard me as one."

"Yeah, well, they're all narrow-minded twats," I said fiercely, although I felt bad about it afterwards. Alisha and Kelly weren't that bad…or Curtis. It was just Nathan that was the narrow-minded twat, but I couldn't really single him out when it was true that the other three hadn't exactly been the friendliest towards Simon. "They don't understand weird little nerds like me and you."

"They seem to like you just fine," Simon said abruptly.

"Yeah, well, that's because I've got a big mouth, I'm a show-off and I don't care what people say to me."

"I can't do that, though. I'm not loud and obnoxious, and I don't like being looked at all the time."

"Hey! Who are you calling obnoxious?" I said indignantly. "I'll just pretend you didn't say that. Now, I'd like to say we should try and get you to be a bit louder and a bit more noticeable, but I think it'd be weird if we did. The quiet, shy boy you are makes you you, and I don't want you to change that."

* * *

The sentimentality of that morning was completely shattered by Kelly and Nathan. Simon and I were sitting in the locker rooms after getting changed into our jumpsuits when they burst into the room, Kelly practically spitting with fury.

"Yep, it was 'er ex-boyfriend and 'e's _bald_!" she growled. "It's Jodi! She's got dis power or somethin'! Urgh! That _bitch_ did this to me!" She slammed back against the lockers, folding her arms with a huff.

"So she has the power to turn people bald?" said Nathan. "That is rubbish! Bald, bald, bald…" he pointed at each me, Simon and Kelly, though he faltered at that last one.

"When I catch 'er, I'm gonna batter 'er! I'm gonna rip 'er tits off!" Kelly shouted viciously.

"Hey, there's something you can get to do that for you," I said from my position on the bench. "It's this medieval torture weapon. I think they have one in the Natural History Museum in London. You should use that."

"And how exactly do you plan on gettin' to London to get this thing?" Nathan said scathingly.

"Er, a train?" I shot back.

"And you're just gonna walk into the museum, unlock one of the exhibits, take this thing you're talkin' about, and walk straight out again without bein' noticed?"

"Damn straight. I can do all that ninja shit and wear one of them epic black catsuit thingies."

"You can't walk over a flat surface without findin' somethin' to trip over. What makes you think you could be a ninja?"

"Bitch please. I bet I'd ma-" I began, but was interrupted by Kelly.

"Oh my God, will the two of ya jost shut op wiv the arguin'!" she yelled.

I blinked in astonishment. "Jesus, sorry _Mum_."

"Right, come on!" Sally's voice suddenly travelled through the locker room door. "All of you in the main hall, now!"

"D'you think we should wait for Curtis and Alisha?" I said, standing up and stretching.

"Nah, they'll be forever. They're probably shaggin' or somethin'," Nathan said dismissively.

"But they're not together or anything," I said, frowning.

Nathan scoffed, "You're seriously that naïve? I get that you're the kid of the group, and you're obviously under this illusion of fairytale love lives and all that little girly shit, but listen. Nobody waits to get together to get with the shaggin', I'm tellin' ya."

"So, I'm naïve for thinking that people would do the traditional thing? Hm, yeah, I guess I am." I gave Nathan the finger and stamped through to the main hall, Simon trailing after me.

"What a twat," I grumbled, sitting on one of the sealed boxes of clothes and nearly falling straight through when the cardboard collapsed. "Shit!" Simon caught hold of one of my hands and pulled me up before the box completely caved in. "Cheers Simon."

"It's okay." He hesitated, then came out with, "What did Nathan mean about you being a kid?"

"I reckon it's because I'm the youngest," I answered, hopping down off the box and dropping Simon's hand.

"Are you?"

"Well, yeah. You lot are all like, twenty-one, twenty-two-ish. I'm only eighteen." I shrugged. "But hey, the way I see it, I'm the one who won't get the wrinkles as early. And I'm obviously the most mature one here anyway." I winked at him.

"Obviously," he said, giving me a small smile. Just then, the doors opened and Kelly and Nathan walked in dressed in their jumpsuits, followed by Curtis and Alisha, who had finally decided to show up. They gathered around the box Simon and I were standing by.

"Okay, shitheads, listen up," I announced, clapping my hands at them. "Our good friend Simon here-" I threw an arm around his shoulders. "Has had an idea about what to do with our little _problems_ upstairs. I'd like to tell you what it is, but since he hasn't actually told me yet, I'll just let him to the explaining." I gave him a meaningful look.

"We should bury the bodies underneath the foundations of the environmental monitoring station before they pour in the concrete," he said quietly.

"So your plan is- we dig up the bodies, and then we rebury them in _exactly_ the same place? You're a genius!" Nathan hissed derisively.

"Yeah, he is actually," I snapped. "That's a well good idea, Simon."

"Yeah, that works!" Curtis said through a smile.

"That's dead smart," agreed Kelly. Simon looked adorably proud of himself, giving everyone a cute little smile that made him look like a puppy or something.

"It's okay," said Nathan superficially. I rolled my eyes.

Charity Guy suddenly appeared out of nowhere, carrying one of the cardboard boxes. "Okay guys, if you wanna grab a box and follow me." None of us really moved except for Alisha, who turned her back slightly on him. His ridiculously cheery smile wavered slightly. "Guys? Do you wanna…grab a box?" We all sighed and each reluctantly grabbed a box, and this was how the rest of the day was spent- packing up boxes and stacking them- until we were finally set free at the end of the day.

"Right. Let's get this shit over and done with," I proclaimed in the locker room. There was a pause. "How exactly are we getting this shit over and done with?"

"I'll go ask Alisha if we can borrow her dad's car again," said Curtis. "We can use that to drive the bodies up to the fly-over."

"Yeah, alright. You go do that. Quick!" I gestured with my hands at the door. Curtis nodded and left. I was seriously hoping that he would be able to persuade her to let us use the car again. However, my hope was in vain because when Simon, Nathan, Kelly and I turned the corner that lead to the community centre courtyard, Alisha was disappearing with Charity Guy, leaving a very pissed off Curtis in her wake.

"Anyone else sensing the distinct smell of 'hook up'?" I said, watching Alisha and the guy disappear around the corner.

"Urh, d'you mean she's hookin' up wiv _'im_?" asked Kelly.

"Oh, that is _definitely _on," said Nathan.

"How do we move the bodies without her dad's car?" asked Simon, ever the practical thinker.

"You need to get that tart on the phone, and tell her we need her dad's car to shift the stiffs!" Nathan directed at Curtis, who started walking away in the same direction Alisha and Charity Guy had gone.

"Er, where ya goin'? We need ta move the bodies!" hissed Kelly.

"You deal with it!" he snapped.

"Cunt!" I shouted after him, earning me a three separate looks of surprise from the others. "Oh come on. You were all thinking it!" I said defensively.

"We can take Sally's car," suggested Simon.

"Yeah, good plan," I nodded.

"Who's Sally?" Nathan asked stupidly.

"Oh, for fuck sake," I said, facepalming, while Kelly and Simon looked at him like he was mentally devoid of any brain cells. "The probation worker, you total moron!"

* * *

It took us another ten minutes to sort that out. Simon turned himself invisible to get the keys from Sally's bag, and we managed to get the bodies out of the storeroom, past the probation office and out to the car park without any hiccups and without getting noticed.

Kelly, Simon and I lifted the first body (Gary) into the boot of Sally's car with no trouble as the corpse was kinda small, but it was the probation worker corpse that started causing problems as it was too big. Nathan seemed to think he was above touching dead people, as he sat in the driver's seat checking himself out in the wing mirror.

"Oi! Dickhead! Get out of the frigging car and come give us a hand!" I spat at him, as me, Simon and Kelly desperately tried to force the body into the boot.

"I'm the designated driver!" he retorted.

"Help us, you prick!" hissed Kelly.

He sighed and got out of the car. "Which one's this?" he asked, pushing at the body.

"The probation worker," replied Simon.

"He's a fat bastard," panted Nathan as he pushed, and we eventually managed to get the body to fit. As Kelly slammed the boot shut, Sally emerged from the building, checking something on her phone.

"Fuck!" I all but shrieked.

"Shit!" exclaimed Nathan, grabbing my hand and pulling me down behind the car. Kelly and Simon both scrambled to hide as well.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck!" I muttered. "We need to move. Now!" As Sally rummaged in her bag for something- probably her missing car keys- the four of us managed to crawl over to a gathering of big metal barrels and dumpsters and hid behind them. Just in time to, as Sally hurried around to the side of the car we had been squatting behind not one minute earlier.

As she opened the driver's door, I whispered to the others, "It'll be okay. She won't be able to start the car because we have the keys."

"Er…" Nathan said guiltily.

"Nathan?" I said suspiciously. "What have you done?" Before he could even open his mouth to reply, my question was answered as the car's engine started and Sally drove away.

"Holy shit! No!" I cried, running out from behind the dumpster, followed by Nathan.

"Shit!" he yelled again.

"You prick!" I screamed at him, slapping him on the arm repeatedly. "You absolute twat-headed cunt-face! You left the keys in the fucking ignition!"

"Ow! Ow! Stop hittin' me! It's burnin'!" he cried, stepping away from me. "How was I supposed to know she was gonna come out here and just drive off?"

"Anyone with half a fucking brain would have some clue that it was a possibility!" I shouted at him as me, him, Simon and Kelly headed up to the roof of the community centre. I was taking care not to touch anyone or anything as it seemed this kind of anger would have my power in full flow. "Then again, I guess that's why you didn't think of it, because you clearly have no brain!"

"Are you PMSing?" he asked.

I punched his arm again as we emerged on to the roof. "Instead of being a dick, why don't you make yourself half-useful and call Curtis to explain this lovely situation you've gotten us in? Now!"

"Alright, pushy," he muttered. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and moved as far away from me as possible, which meant standing at the edge of the roof. I collapsed onto the lounger next to Kelly and ran my hands through my hair. I'm amazed it wasn't falling out like Kelly's had, I was feeling so stressed.

"Are you okay?" Simon asked me quietly.

"Don't ask stupid questions, Simon. Of course I'm not," I snapped. His face fell and I automatically felt really bad. "I'm sorry, Simon. I didn't mean to sound like a bitch. I'm just feeling really stressed right now and I'm close to killing someone, namely Nathan."

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," he smiled, and I grinned back at him, my bad mood slowly disappearing.

"-worker _is_ drivin' around with the stiffs in the boot of her car," Nathan was saying into his phone. "Just thought you'd wanna know. Anyway…call me." He hung up and came and sat in between Kelly and me. "I guess that's it. We're goin' to prison."

"Yeah, my careers teacher said that's where I'd end op," said Kelly. "She'll be givin' it all this." She made a talking gesture with her hand.

"Yeah, well you'll do alright in prison. You've got the whole bald thing, you're well butch," Nathan said, earning himself a punch from Kelly. "Ow! It's me and Scorch over here that have the problem. The freaks in them prisons probably haven't seen a beautiful face in fuck knows how long. Those places are full of perverts and rapists. We'd better not try jugglin' with the soap is all I'm sayin'."

"Ew. Lovely thoughts there, Nathan. Twat," I tutted, slapping his arm again.

"Ouch! You know, you two hit me a lot!" he cried resentfully.

"That's because all you ever do is act like a dick!" I said.

"Maybe Sally won't look in the boot," Simon interjected.

"Oh, fingers crossed, eh?" Nathan said mockingly.

"I hate to say it, but he's kinda got a point," I said. "We're just not that lucky." Simon sat down next to me and put his head in his hands in despair. Because I had calmed down, I assumed my power had stopped working, so I put my hand in the crook of his elbow to comfort both himself and me. At a time like this, I needed to feel close to someone.

* * *

I arrived at the community centre at exactly half seven the next morning. I was scared shitless. I was shaking, I was so pale with fear I was practically translucent, and I hadn't slept for more than ten minutes the night before. Today was the day our fates would be decided. Time was not on our side.

"We're fucked. We're going to prison. We're so dead. We're fucked. We're going to prison, we're so dead," I chanted, pacing round and round in a circle in the middle of the main hall. "We're fucked. We're going to prison. We're so dead. We're fucked. We're going to prison, we're so dead. We're fuc-"

"For fuck sake, Scorch, will you shut up?!" Nathan said irritatedly. "You're doin' my head in."

"I'm sorry. I am freaking out!" I said, jittering. "We're fucked. We're going to prison. We're so dead…" I couldn't keep still. If I wasn't pacing, I was tapping my foot or clicking my fingers. I was driving myself crazy as well as Nathan, and I was probably annoying Simon too, even though he didn't say anything from his place by the front windows.

There was a knock at the other door, and in my terrified state I screamed. I felt insanely stupid when I saw it was just Kelly, Alisha and Curtis.

"Calm down!" Nathan hissed at me, opening the door. As the three of them walked inside, he asked them, "Did any of you get any sleep last night?"

"No," Curtis replied seriously.

"We would have been arrested by now if she'd found the bodies," said Alisha as the six of us formed a circle in the middle of the room.

"Maybe they're waiting until we're all together," Simon said intensely.

"Now why would you say somethin' like that?" exclaimed Nathan, sounding slightly hysterical.

"What time does she usually get 'ere?" asked Kelly.

"About eight o'clock," answered Nathan.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. "It's seven forty-three. We should get outside and wait for her to arrive. That way, we can make sure she doesn't go _anywhere_ near the boot. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded, and we practically sprinted out to the car park. I looked around for somewhere for us to all hide, and we had to settle for behind the dumpsters again. Charmanté. I was squatting in between Kelly and Nathan, my legs shaking underneath me. It seemed like the sour bin smell had intensified over night.

We waited there for fifteen minutes, and all the while I thought I was going to pass out and my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to explode. But eventually, Sally's car swung around the corner and slowed to a stop.

"Oh thank fuck!" I breathed. "She hasn't looked in the boot! We're safe!"

"We're gonna be okay! We're not going to prison!" Nathan said ecstatically. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a tight hug. I noticed that due to the varying heights we'd both squatted down at, Nathan's head was resting practically in between my boobs, but as I was so frickin' relieved, I honestly didn't care as I enclosed my arms around his neck and shoulders and returned the hug.

Suddenly, Curtis rounded on us and hissed urgently, "She's gonna get out of the car, she's gonna walk to the boot and she's gonna find the bodies!"

"How do you know?!" demanded Alisha.

"It's already happened once!"

"So _now_ you rewind time!" said Nathan, looking at me with raised eyebrows. It was then that we noticed the compromising position we were in, and we abruptly released each other.

"What are we gonna do?!" I hissed in dismay.

"Argh! Get the bodies!" Nathan ordered, before grabbing a large chunk of brick off of the floor and rapidly emerging from our hiding space.

"What is he thinking?!" I whisper-shrieked. At this point in time, Sally had gotten out of the car and was walking towards the boot. Without any form of reluctance whatsoever, Nathan flexed his arm and chucked the brick at the car windscreen. It smacked straight into the middle of the glass, causing it to splinter out right to the edges with a devastating shattering noise.

Sally whirled round in disbelief and surprise. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"It's just…pure, mindless vandalism!" he stuttered, trying to sound cocky.

"What is the matter with you?" Sally demanded furiously. "Are you mentally deficient!?" _Probably_, I thought, causing Kelly, who must have been listening to my thoughts, to splutter with suppressed laughter.

"If I was mentally deficient, I woulda missed. Check that out," Nathan was saying awkwardly, pointing to the shattered windscreen. "Bull's-eye!"

"My office, now!" Sally commanded him, sounding completely and utterly enraged. "_NOW_!"

Nathan jumped at the shout, and headed into the community centre, Sally following him. We all jumped out from behind the dumpsters and piled into the car, me driving. Thank God Sally left the keys in the ignition. We quickly reburied the bodies while the builders were on a break, then waited behind one of the pillars to watch them pour in the concrete. Never in my life had I been so grateful to watch vats of lumpy grey liquid be poured into a mud hole.

I felt seriously bad for Nathan though. I couldn't believe he'd sacrificed himself (sort of) to let us get away. I guess he did actually have a serious side, even though it very, very rarely came out. Granted, that serious side had now got him into one serious shit-load of trouble.

* * *

_"Tik Tok on the_ _clock_."  
**-Ke$ha, "Tik Tok"**

* * *

**A/N- So that's chapter eight! I hope you liked the Georgia-Simon bonding moments. She really does see him as her best friend almost, and I've got a big plan for the two of them in the next chapter. So yeah. Review everyone, I'm still desperate! Xx Gee xX**


	9. Complications

**A/N- This is the first chapter I've written with hardly any form of prompt from the show, so I hope you like it! Many, many thanks to Madame Lizzie, It Belongs In A Museum and Guest for reviewing! You guys keep me going!**

* * *

**Chapter Nine- Complications**

All in all, I felt pretty mellow for the rest of the day. We'd managed to permanently get rid of the bodies, and hell, it was now only ten o'clock. The rest of the day after that seemed so mundane: finishing packing up the remaining clothes for the Africans, sticking mailing labels of said boxes, and saying sayonara to Charity Guy for the last time, thank God. All his goodness was doing my head in.

At five o'clock, we all headed up to the roof, which seemed to slowly be turning into the routine for the end of the day. I curled up in one of the chairs and lit a cigarette, enjoying the feeling of the late June sunshine on my face and listening to the various sirens in the distance.

"It doesn't matter who's after os now," Kelly said blissfully. "They'll never find the bodies. See ya."

"It's finally over," I said happily, flicking some ash off my cigarette.

"They're going to think the probation worker's still alive," piped up Simon. "I stole his credit card. I used it to book a flight."

"Damn, boy. When'd you get so freaking talented with this kind of shit?" I said appreciatively.

"That is smart," said Curtis approvingly, grinning at him.

"Yeah, you're dead good at stoff like that," added Kelly.

"Yeah, nice one, Weird Kid," Nathan praised him. Simon smiled around the group, looking pleased with himself.

"I cannot _believe_ we got away with this shit!" proclaimed Alisha.

"We should all go out for a drink!" Simon said excitedly. "You know, to celebrate!" Oh no. I could tell he was about to go into some adrenaline induced, excitable meltdown. No, no, bad call! "It's like an ironic 'fuck you' to the probation worker!" he continued, standing up. "We're all out having a good time- you're buried under the foundations of an environmental monitoring station!" He looked around at us eagerly, but his smile was quickly fading as he saw everyone's varying looks of uninterested-ness.

"See you all tomorrow, yeah?" said Alisha, pushing herself off of the chair she was sitting in and starting to walk away.

As she was making her way to the door, she paused for a minute and shot Curtis a very suggestive look, causing him to immediately leap up with a hurried, "Later!" The two of them disappeared through the door. Well that basically confirmed that the two of them had finally got their acts together and hooked up properly. Good for them.

Next to start leaving was Nathan, who pushed himself up from his chair with a groan.

"Do you want to come for a drink?" Simon asked as Nathan passed him.

"Are you askin' me out on a date?" Nathan demanded.

"No. I meant all of us," said Simon, stuttering slightly.

"Did you?" Nathan leaned closer to Simon and jabbed his finger at him. "I am not your whore!"

As Nathan walked away, Kelly looked at Simon apologetically and said, "There's no way I'm goin' out till me 'air grows back. Sorry."

As the roof door slammed shut for the third time, it was just me and Simon left on the roof. His excitedness seemed to have subsided somewhat, and he looked slightly deflated. I stood up, stretched and smiled at him to make him feel better.

"Okay, I'll see you at seven then, yeah?" I said to him.

"What do you mean?"

I shook my head at him. "Oh dear. Well, you want to go for a drink, and there is no fucking way I'm setting foot in any form of bar or pub wearing this piece of shit-" I plucked at the leg of my jumpsuit. "So I'm gonna need a couple of hours to get ready. Therefore, I'm expecting you outside my house at seven tonight."

"Oh. Okay. Where…where do you live?" he asked hesitantly.

"On the estate. It's Flat Thirteen down Newport Road," I told him. As I opened the roof door, I turned to him and warned, "By the way, if you're late, I might have to kill you." Then I grinned to show him I was joking before heading down the stairs.

* * *

I stared into my wardrobe, trying to decide what to wear. I knew it wasn't a date or anything, but I still wanted to look half-decent. If I turned up looking like I did now- wet hair wrapped in a towel, no make-up, trackies and an old t-shirt- Simon would take one look at me and run screaming in the opposite direction.

"Nope. Hate it. Hideous. God, no. Nope. No. No. No!" I said disparagingly, flicking through practically every bit of clothing I owned. "Nope. Nope. NOPE. Argh! Wait…yes!" I grabbed the final hanger in my wardrobe. Hanging on it was a short, white lacy dress. It had an elasticated waist that clung to me and made my figure look like an hourglass. If I teamed it with my cropped black leather jacket, black tights and my red suede wedges, I'd look good, but not like I'd tried to hard.

Outfit sorted, I sat down at my dressing table, hairdryer in hand, and got down to blowing my hair bone-dry. This took forever because of the fact my hair was really, really thick. However, I was eventually able to shake my head without it feeling like there was a rainstorm going down my back, which was when I set to using my curling tongs to give me some volume.

Oh God, my roots were coming through again. My brownish-black hair wasn't my natural colour. My natural colour was roughly the same shade as damp sand, so when I was fourteen I had dyed it purple, then at fifteen I'd got bored and dyed it luminescent red (I'm talking the same shade as Holly Hagan from _Geordie Shore_).

When I was sixteen, I'd then decided I hated the red, so I'd gone over _that_ with Darkest Brown by Nice 'n Easy because I'd wanted to go as dark as I could without going full-on black. However, because it was already red, it had gone a weird purplish-brown colour, meaning I'd had to top it up every six weeks for a year to get it to the relatively decent colour it was now. But even now, a year after, my roots still came through this weirdo ginger colour, and it drove me insane.

Well, insane-er than I already was. Oh no, wait. Look at me being all un-PC. According to the courts and my therapist, I wasn't 'insane', I was 'mentally unstable'. Apparently there was a difference.

* * *

At quarter to seven, the doorbell rang. I assumed it was Simon taking my threat slighly to seriously and being a bit early, so I shouted, "It's open!"

I heard the door open and shut, then a few footsteps go into the living room. I slicked on a final coat of berry-red lipgloss, smiled at my reflection, slipped on my wedges and headed into the living room. "Hey, Sim- _Lola_?" There, sitting on my tattered pink velvet sofa, was my fifteen-year-old sister. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Mum told me to come and see you," she said quietly.

"Did she now?" I folded my arms. "Well, out with it then. What do you want?"

"I wanted to see how you were."

I laughed bitterly. "Me? Oh, I'm fine. Yeah, you know, I've been living by myself and the practical solitary confinement is great. Mum and Dad still haven't spoken to me since they chucked me out, and I haven't seen my little brother in nearly two months. I'm feeling fan-fucking-tastic."

"Christ, no need for the sarcasm, I was only asking," said Lola, raising her eyebrows.

"Why do you even care?" I spat. "All this is your fault anyway!"

"My fault?" Lola cackled with derisive laughter. "You're the one who broke my jaw with a bloody baseball bat, you bitch!"

"Because you had it coming, you jumped-up little twat!" I shouted. "You ruined my life!"

"Because I finally told you what I thought of you?! Yeah, I guess I did have it coming!" she shouted back. "God, you're such a conceited cow!"

"How am I conceited?!"

"You have to make it all about you, don't you?" she yelled. "I ruined _your_ life, Mum and Dad haven't spoken to _you_. What about me?"

"What about you!? None of this is to do with you! Because of you, I have a criminal record! I'm on community service! Okay, because of _you_, I got kicked out my final year of sixth form, which means I can't go to university, and I can't be a psychologist! The one thing, _the one thing_ I wanted to do with my life is ruined _because of you_!" I screamed the last three words.

Lola laughed again. "Oh yeah, community service. How's that going, by the way?" she said snidely.

"Right, that tears it. Get the fuck out of my house!" I seized the scruff of Lola's jacket- ignoring the fact that the second I touched it, it began to smoke- and hauled her up off the sofa, pushing her into the hallway. "Get out!"

"Why so dressed up, anyway?" she continued her tirade. "Going out somewhere? Finally managed to get yourself a little criminal boyfriend?"

I yanked the front door open and came face-to-face with Simon, who was clearly about to knock on the door. I pushed him to the side and shoved Lola out the door with a scream of, "Keep the fuck away from me, you stupid little cunt!" She collided with Simon and almost fell over, but somehow managed to keep her balance.

She looked Simon up and down and laughed again. "Is this him? Wow, Georgia. Just when I thought you couldn't become anymore of a square."

"_Piss off_!" I shrieked, throwing the potted plant I kept on the table by the front door at her. She laughed yet again, dodging the plant so it landed at her feet, causing the pot to shatter, and walked off, but not before flashing me the finger.

As I stood in the doorway trying to slow my breathing and my anger levels, Simon seemed to be hesitant to come near me. "It's fine, Simon. I'm not gonna throw a plant at you." As he moved more into the light spilling from my hallway, I saw he was dressed really nicely, more casually than usual, in black jeans, a denim jacket and a dark blue polo shirt, although the polo shirt was still buttoned as high as it could go. "Looking good."

"Er, thanks," he said. "Who was that?"

"You've just had to great honour of meeting my little sister," I said grimly.

* * *

"Stupid little bitch," I grumbled as Simon and I walked into the pub that was a few streets away from my flat.

"You don't like your sister much, do you?" he asked me.

"Am I being that evident?" I said sarcastically, flopping down into one of the two-seater booths and shrugging off my leather jacket. Simon sat down opposite me and nodded. "Yeah, well, what can I say? It's a hate-hate relationship."

"Oh. Right." Simon seemed at a loss for words. "Do you…do you want a drink then?"

"Fuck yes. I need one after what just happened," I said, pulling a fiver out of my purse. "Get me a double vodka and Coke please." I tried to hand him the note, but he shook his head.

"No, don't worry. I'll pay," he said, disappearing to the bar. I leaned my head back against my chair and sighed, my head kind of throbbing. How did Lola always manage to draw this kind of reaction from me? I knew it was what she wanted, so why did I respond? Because I was a mess, that was why. A fucking anger-fuelled mess.

I pulled my phone out of my bag and looked at the messages. Nothing. Oh no, wait, scratch that, there was a chain message from one of my friends from Sixth Form. Nice to know they'd send me a shower if love was a drop of water.

"Here you go," Simon's voice suddenly floated into my thoughts, and a glass of Coke was in front of me. "They asked me if you wanted lime, but I said no because I wasn't sure."

"Good call," I said, taking an appreciative sip and feeling the alcohol go straight to my head. "I'm allergic to lime."

"Are you?"

"Yep. All citrus fruits, actually. Oranges are the worst, but limes, pineapples, lemons, kiwis, stuff like that, they all cause a reaction."

"It sounds horrible," he said, sipping his beer.

"It is. I have to constantly check food labels for citric acid. I can't even fucking eat Haribo anymore. It's a piss take, trust me."

There was a slight pause as the two of us had another drink. Then he shyly said, "You look really pretty, by the way."

"Aw thanks," I said, equally as shyly, even though I wasn't actually feeling particularly shy.

Still, the rest of the evening passed really well. I really felt like I was getting to know Simon. We discussed our favourite movies (his was _A Space Odyssey_, mine was _The Dark Knight Rises_ (Batman FTW)), our favourite music (he liked bands I'd never heard of, like Echo and the Bunnymen, while I went for bands like Paramore and Halestorm), our favourite TV shows (_Battlestar Galactica _and _The Big Bang Theory_) and everything in between.

"I don't want you to think I'm being nosy," Simon said. "But what happened between you and your sister? I heard you say it was her fault you were in community service on the first day."

"Yeah. God, this is a long story." I took a deep breath. "Okay, so it was two months ago, in April. Me, Lola- that's my sister- and my little brother Charlie had all gone down the park because Charlie wanted to play with the new baseball set Mum and Dad had bought him. I was already pissed off with Lola because she'd done something the night before when I'd gone bowling with my friends, so I wasn't in the greatest of moods."

I took a sip of my drink, then carried on, "So I was sitting on one of the benches, watching Charlie hitting the balls Lola was throwing to him. He looked so happy, bless him." I paused, trying not to cry. "So he comes up to me and says 'Georgia, will you have a go now?' and hands me the baseball bat. And I'm not talking one of them little kiddie foam bats, I'm talking one of those fucking great wooden ones."

"Right," Simon said.

"So Lola and I played this game of throw and hit for about ten minutes. I'm not gonna lie, I was doing shit. I'd missed every single ball she'd thrown at me. So she stands there and goes 'even a retard could have hit those' and naturally I told her to shut the fuck up."

I had a bigger mouthful of my drink this time before continuing, "So she hit back by calling me an ugly cow, and a total red mist descended on me. I completely and utterly lost it. I was screaming at her, calling her a bitch and a twat and a cunt. Then she was suddenly shouting too, telling me exactly what she thought of me, how I was heartless, stuck-up, a gobby show-off, and it completely cumulated with her calling me a shit sister. I flew at her, and the next thing I knew, she was on the floor with a broken jaw, Charlie was screaming, I was holding a blood-splattered baseball bat and being restrained by a cop who just so happened to be passing the park at the time."

"After that, things got pretty bleak. I got arrested for minor bodily harm with intent, I was sentenced to two hundred hours of community service and ten anger management sessions which became fifteen after that disastrous restorative justice session, and I got chucked out of my sixth form. I had to spend a couple of days in the local psychiatric unit, so they could test me." The second I mentioned the psychiatric unit, Simon seemed to tense up. I wasn't sure, though. Maybe I was imagining it.

"Because of that, I'm now legally classed as mentally unstable and Mum and Dad threw me out of the house because they thought it was dangerous to have me around Charlie, and I haven't seen him since. The only contact I get from them is the letter that arrives in the post once a month telling me they've paid my rent. The one concession I get from being ostracized from my family," I said bitterly, glowering out of the window.

"You're classed as mentally unstable?" said Simon, sounding shocked.

"Apparently so. Anyway, is that all you got from that massive spiel, that I'm mentally unstable?!"

"No. I just thought the other stuff was to personal to you for me to comment on," he said seriously. "And if it helps, I don't think you seem mentally unstable in the slightest."

"Oh. Thanks Simon," I said, draining my glass and smiling at him. "So what about you, Mr Arsonist? Why'd you try and burn someone's house down?" Simon suddenly looked so sombre that I immediately backtracked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cross into No Man's Land. Don't answer if you don't want to."

"No, I'll tell you. It's only fair."

"You sure?"

"Yes. It started in secondary school. The boy who lived next door to me…he stopped talking to me when we started Year Seven. He thought he was too cool to be seen with me."

"What happened? Did he start giving you a hard time or something?" I said sympathetically.

Simon nodded. "Every morning, I'd wake up, and I'd feel sick just thinking about it." I nodded too, to show that I understood.

In Year Six, I'd suffered something similar, although not because I was being bullied. I'd wake up every morning feeling like death, crying and refusing to go to school and having massive panic attacks because two of my friends constantly argued and put me in the middle of all their shit- something I didn't want to be a part of.

"Didn't you tell anyone? Your parents? The teachers?"

Simon nodded again. "Both. They didn't do anything. Nothing happened, and it got worse. Even up to couple of months ago, he still wouldn't talk to me except to make fun of me"

"So I'm going out on a limb here and assuming it was his house you tried to burn down," I said.

He nodded again. "A few months ago, he sent me a text. He was inviting me to meet him at a club. I thought…I thought he wanted to apologise to me. To make things up between us. So I got to the club, and I walked up to him and his mates."

"He didn't send you the text as a joke, did he?" I said angrily.

Simon shook his head. "It was worse. He'd sent it to me as a mistake. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life." He looked down, an expression of mortification on his face.

"Oh Simon," I said gently. His hand was positioned on the table next to his glass, and I placed my hand over his. He jumped at the contact at first, but then continued with his story.

"I was so angry that I went home and I…I got drunk," he admitted.

"Ah, alcohol. The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems," I quoted from _The Simpsons_.

Simon grinned weakly at me. "I started to think about everything he'd done to me at school. I…I lost it. I went round to his house. I made sure his family was out, and I soaked some tissues in lighter fluid. I set them on fire then dropped them through the letter box."

"Holy fuck," I breathed.

"There was a cat," he said.

"What? A cat…?" I repeated, waving a hand to show I wanted him to elaborate.

"It was in the house. I started thinking, the cat didn't bully me at school. He hadn't done anything to me!"

"Well, considering it was a cat, I'd be a bit worried if it had been to be honest," I said lightly.

He laughed quietly. "The carpet was just starting to catch fire, and the cat was freaking out about it."

"I can imagine. I doubt it would take the possibility of being barbequed too lightly. So what did you do?"

"I put the fire out," he said as though it was obvious.

"Well I'd worked that much out myself, Einstein. What I meant was, how?"

He leaned forward and whispered, "I pissed through the letter box."

I leaned back in complete shock. "I'm sorry, what? You pissed…through the letter box? Like, literally _pissed_?" I couldn't help it. I started laughing.

"That was when his mum came home, and she started screaming. You know what it's like when you've started, you can't stop! It's not funny!"

At this point I was cackling with laughter, almost bent double in my seat. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't be laughing, and I swear I'm trying to stop! Oh my God…" I forced myself to calm down. Once I had, I looked him dead in the eyes, held his hand tighter and said, "I bet the dickhead whose house it was totally deserved it."

I was suddenly aware Simon and I had leaned so near together our foreheads were almost touching. Abruptly, everything seemed a bit too close. Too intimate. Too personal. I felt really flustered, and I stood up and stretched. "God, I need a piss. I'll be right back." Being ladylike had never really been one of my strong points...

Once locked in one of the cubicles, I just sat on the toilet (lid down, obviously), my mind going absolutely insane. My face felt really hot under my hands. Where had all this come from? Not three minutes earlier I'd been totally fine. I noticed the intimacy between myself an Simon and BOOM. Fucking half a panic attack fell on me out of nowhere. God, was I really that cold-hearted that the second it felt like I was getting close to someone I froze up? If that was the case, I was basically a snowman.

I blamed my fucked-up family for all this shit. Before my parents had chucked me out, I'd been a bright, bubbly, happy, typical eighteen-year-old. I had no problem making friends, I loved being close to people and I loved going out.

After the incident at the park, nearly all my friends dropped me like a sack of hot potatoes because they all thought I'd attack them or something, aside from my two best friends, who had still stood by me. But because of everyone else's abandonment, I never really felt connected to anyone after that. I was broken, scared and alone. And I vowed I'd never let anyone else do that to me.

But this wasn't just anyone. It was Simon. The first proper good friend I'd made since April. Sure, I was friends with all the others on community service, but not like I was with Simon. Hell, at the minute I felt closer to Simon than I had with anybody before, because he was there for me now, in a time where I felt the most exposed and defenceless. He was my best friend.

Simon, who_ didn't_ think I was mentally unstable and _didn_'_t_ stare at me like I was just a pair of boobs (take note, Nathan!). Simon, who was still patiently waiting for me to finish going to the toilet. I realised I'd been in here for over ten minutes. He was probably wondering where the hell I'd got to.

I unlocked the cubicle door with a sigh and went to look at myself in one of the mirrors. My face was bright pink, so I quickly splashed myself with water from the cold tap to cool myself down. I then reapplied my foundation and my eyeliner, swooped another layer of lipgloss on my mouth and tottered out of the Ladies.

Simon was still sitting in the booth, scrolling through his phone. I went up behind him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "So you're walking me home, yeah?"

He stood up and put his denim jacket on. "Er, yeah. Okay."

* * *

It was totally pitch black when we emerged from the pub, the only sources of light coming from the very spaced out streetlights and the occasional passing car. According to my phone it was half past ten, so we'd been out a good three and a half hours. It was also freezing cold, and I was shivering in spite of my leather jacket and tights.

"Are you cold?" Simon asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, just a little bit."

"Here." He took off his denim jacket and handed it to me.

I took it gratefully and slipped my arms into the sleeves. It was slightly too big, but it was oh-so warm. "Thanks."

"No problem."

I was stumbling slightly in my wedges, and my head felt slightly fuzzy. I wondered how much I'd had to drink. I could have sworn it was only one double vodka and Coke…then there was the Bailey's…then the glass of wine...and then the Cosmopolitan…oh shit.

Okay, so I was slightly drunk. But I was doing a good job of disguising it, I thought. There had been times in the past when I'd gotten so pissed I'd been thrown out of bars, gotten into fights, screamed insults at random strangers, puked in the gutter…and there was that time I puked in my friend's coat hood.

"Right, this is me," I said as we walked up to my front door. We both stood outside the door for a second. "I had a really nice time tonight Simon."

"I did too," he replied, giving me one of his shy little smiles.

I smiled back at him, then opened the front door. "So, do you fancy coming in for a coffee or anything?"

Simon hesitated slightly. Then he leaned forward and gently kissed me.

At first I was shocked. It had been so light I wasn't even sure it had happened. Then he gained more confidence, and he inclined his head to kiss me again, this time properly, harder.

I was tentative, but I laced my hands together at the back of his neck to hold him to me. Just as shy as his first kiss, his arms wrapped around my waist. I ran my hands through his painstakingly neat hair, tousling it, before wrapping my arms around his neck. But suddenly the image in my mind wasn't of me kissing Simon. It was of someone else. Someone with wild, dark curly hair…

I broke the kiss as though I'd been scalded. My arms were still draped around Simon's neck, and his were still around my waist. "Simon…I…I'm sorry. I can't. I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow." I pulled myself away from him and bolted through my front door, slamming it in his poor, confused face.

I put my head in my hands and slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor. Oh God, what had I just done? By just abandoning Simon in the street, I'd basically fucked up any form of friendship we'd had. I guessed I could finally appreciate that Avril Lavigne song.

* * *

_"Why'd you have to go and make things so_ complicated?"  
**-Avril Lavigne, "Complicated"**

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**A/N- Madame Lizzie and It Belongs In A Museum, you totally called this one! Damn your psychic powers! ;) I re-read the bar bit, and I tried to keep it as close to the story Simon tells Sally in Ep5, but I wanted to change it a bit to make it different, a bit more my own. I hope you liked it. I also hope you liked the way some of Georgia's past was revealed in this chapter! Let me know what you thought. Reviews, guys! They make me happy! Xx Gee xX**


	10. Be Kind, Rewind

**A/N- The inspiration for this chapter's layout came from It Belongs In A Museum's '200 Hours' flashback episode chapter. Thanks to JustABitCrazy for reviewing. Also, thanks as always to Madame Lizzie, for your continued support!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten- Be Kind, Rewind**

"Fuck yes! Steee-rike number three!" I announced to my two best friends, Emma and Courtney as my pink bowling ball knocked down all ten pins. "Look at the scores and weep, my friends! Bow down before the Queen of Bowling!"

"There is no way you've just done that!" protested Emma. "You're cheating, you must be!"

I laughed and ruffled her short black hair. "It's bowling, how could I cheat? Come on, Em, just accept I'm better than you!" Emma just gave me a mock-scowl and moved to take her turn.

I sat down on one of the plastic chairs and laughed at the boy in the lane next to us- wearing jeans and a grey jumper, with dark curly hair- as he got a gutter ball. What made it even funnier was the fact he had so obviously thought he was going to do well. What a spectacular fail.

I loved bowling. It was the one sport I was actually good at. Was bowling a sport? I seriously hoped so, as I planned on putting in the Sports Interests section of my university application.

"Georgia," Courtney suddenly said, knocking me out of my wondering stupor. "Isn't that your sister?" My head turned sharply, looking over to where she was pointing. Sure enough, the skinny figure of my little sister was sauntering towards us, flanked by her two best friends.

"Oh for God's sake, Lola, what are _you_ doing here?" I snapped, standing up and glaring at her.

"I am allowed out of the house, y'know," she retorted. "I'm fifteen, not five."

"What's your point?" I said.

"It's a bowling alley, genius. Me, Tamara and Gabrielle are here to _bowl_," she said obnoxiously, like she was talking to a mentally handicapped person.

"That's great. I really couldn't give a shit," I replied. "Now will you please get lost because I've got stuff to do." She didn't move. "Seriously Lola, _piss off_ or I'll knock you from here to next week!"

She just laughed, "Come on then. How many times have you said that? Do it. Hit me."

Something inside me totally snapped. "FUCK OFF!" I screamed suddenly. "I mean it Lola, just fuck the fuck off and leave me the fuck alone!"

"Calm down Georgia," said Courtney, putting a hand on my shoulder. "People are staring!" I couldn't help myself; I felt boiling hot and I was shaking as well.

Lola smirked, evidently pleased with the reaction she'd drawn from me. "I'll see you later." She and her friends turned to leave, but not before she drawled, "By the way, Mum and Dad want you to babysit Charlie tomorrow night, so you can't go out."

"What? But I've got plans for tomorrow night!" I protested. "Why can't you look after him? He's eight, it's not like it'll be hard work! For fuck sake, why can't _I_ have a life for once?!"

She shrugged. "That's not my problem." And with that, she mockingly waved at me and disappeared with her friends into the throng of bowlers.

"BITCH!" I spat after her.

"You need to stop letting her get to you so badly," Emma said soothingly as I huffed back to my seat. "You're giving her exactly the response she wants."

"Oh, don't go all psychoanalyst on me, please!" I begged. "I know it's what she wants but I can't help it. She just pisses me off so much! Seriously, one day that kid will say one thing that pushes me too far, and when she does it will _not_ be pretty for either of us."

"Oh come on Georgia," said Courtney, returning from her turn. "You've been saying that for the last two and a half years and you've never done anything more than give her a couple of nosebleeds. If you had the guts to do anything more you'd've done it ages ago."

"Yeah? Well trust me, it's not gonna take much more from her to knock me right over the edge."

* * *

I was a terrible excuse for a human being. I felt absolutely awful. How could I have done that to poor Simon? It must have taken all of his confidence (well, what little there was) to kiss me like that, and I'd thrown it right back in his face by leading him on and kissing him back before leaving him rejected in the street.

I was a hard-hearted, unfeeling bitch. I'd probably broken his heart. I'd have to avoid him for the rest of my life, because every time I'd look at him it would be a reminder of what a total whore I was.

Oh no, wait. I couldn't avoid him. Because we both had fucking community service. Fate _really_ didn't like me. The minute I felt like I was finally starting to get my life back on track, BAM. Some form of shit would drop down on me and fuck everything up again. So fucking predictable.

I left the house extra early the next morning, and I practically sprinted to the community centre- actively avoiding the fly-over route. I knew it was stupid; I'd have to see Simon in less than an hour, but the fact was I really didn't want to be alone with him. It would be too awkward.

As I walked into the main hall of the community centre, I heard the familiar snoring sounds coming from where Nathan slept. Nice to know there was at least one thing that had remained the same since yesterday. I couldn't be bothered to climb the stairs to wake him up, so instead I went over to the vending machine and shoved in 75p for a packet of prawn cocktail crisps, which I was looking forward to. Until the machine froze, the packet of crisps still half-suspended over the side.

"Oh, please, not now," I muttered, smacking on the glass with my hand in an attempt to knock the packet out. It didn't even budge. "Come on, you bastard!" I hit the machine again, this time a bit more forcefully. Still nothing. I decided to try Nathan's method of full-on attacking the machine. I started whacking the sides of the machine with my fists and kicking the front of it. It wasn't working either. All the pent-up guilt I was feeling seemed to unexpectedly bubble over, but instead of feeling guilt-ridden, I suddenly just felt angry.

I abruptly hurled myself against the glass, my shoulder connecting with it violently. I threw myself at it again and again like I was trying to shatter the glass or something, screaming, "JUST GIVE ME THE FUCKING CRISPS, YOU DICKHEAD!"

I was being so loud that I'd failed to hear or see Nathan wake up, until I heard his voice right behind me. "If your goal was to wake me up along with the rest of the estate, congratulations. It worked."

I stopped my assault on the vending machine so I could turn and glare at him. "Oh, fuck off Nathan."

He raised his eyebrows. "Well good mornin' to you to, Scorch. Is there a reason you're tryin' to break down the vendin' machine?"

"The fucking thing's jammed," I said brusquely, giving it another swift kick, not that it did anything.

"Right, fine, I get it. You need a far more experienced man to do the work for you," he said smugly, pushing me to the side. "Step aside Scorch, and watch how it's done."

"Oh for God's sake," I muttered, putting my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. "I've already tried, Nathan. That thing is proper stuck in there."

"There is a subtle art to beatin' the shit out of a vending machine," he replied, doing exactly what I had done. "You just gotta…find the right…spot!" Each pause was punctuated with a smack to the machine, with no avail at all. This was going to take a very long time.

* * *

"Right, Ms Queen of Bowling," Emma said. "It's your turn."

"Right," I said, leaping from my seat. "I really don't see any point in me taking my go though. I'm already thirty points ahead of you both, it's obvious I'm gonna win."

"Will you shut up and just pick a fucking bowling ball?! Please!" Emma said exasperatedly.

"But of course, ma cherie," I said in a really bad French accent. As I leant over the bowling ball collector, my phone fell out of my pocket, landing on the lino with a clatter. "Fuck." I bent down as low as my skinny jeans would let me, which unfortunately involved me sticking my arse up in the air as I could hardly bend my knees. There was a wolf-whistle behind me.

"Hey Georgia," said Courtney pointedly. "I think you've got a fan."

From my awkward position, I craned my head round to face her and said, "What?" She gestured to something behind me. I twisted my head round even further to see what she was motioning at. It was the boy in the lane next to us, the one with the curly hair. He was making absolutely no attempt to cover the fact that he was blatantly staring at my arse.

I swiftly picked up my phone and checked it over for any cracks. I shoved it in my pocket, straightened up, looked at the boy and coolly said, "Like what you see?"

"Do you want an honest answer?" he said cockily, grinning. He had an accent, which I thought sounded Irish.

"Urgh. Are you like this to all girls, or am I just special?" I asked, a hint of disgust in my voice.

"Well that depends."

"On…?"

"Are you one of those girls who goes for one night stands, or do you still believe in all that shit about 'relationships' and 'love' and crap?" he asked, quite seriously.

"I've never had a one night stand in my life," I replied curtly. "And nor do I plan to."

The boy tutted, "Too bad. I reckon you're one of them girls who keeps it goin' all night."

"How the hell did you come to that conclusion?" I snapped, starting to get seriously pissed off with this guy.

"I saw you havin' a bitch attack at that girl a while a go," he answered. "Haven't you ever heard the sayin' 'a girl with a fiery personality makes a fiery lover'?"

"I'm pretty sure you just made that up."

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. It's still a shame," he said in mock-sorrow, before winking at me and ambling away in the direction of the toilets.

"What a twat," I said to Emma and Courtney, picking up a bowling ball. "D'you reckon I could hit him with this from back here?"

* * *

After spending fifteen minutes incessantly, mercilessly beating up the vending machine, even Nathan had to admit defeat and I remained crispless.

"It's a piss take!" I grumbled as we went into the locker room. That seemed to rapidly be becoming my inanimate-object-insult of choice. I slammed open my locker and pulled out my jumpsuit, glaring at the orange material bunched up in my hand.

"So how was your little geek date with Weird Kid?" Nathan asked me, changing into his own jumpsuit.

"What?" I said sharply. "What are you talking about? How do you know about that? Did he tell you?"

Nathan scoffed. "No. You updated your Facebook to-" He made quotation marks with his fingers. "'Having a drink with Simon' and unless that was some kinda innuendo for you fuckin' him, I assumed that, well…you went out for a drink with him."

"Oh. Yeah, right." I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "It wasn't a date, we just went for a drink. As _friends_." _Not that you probably are any more_, said a snide little voice in the back of my head

"Why are you bein' so jumpy?" he asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"What are you talking about? I'm not being jumpy," I said, trying to sound flippant as the two of us headed out of the locker rooms.

"Hate to break it to ya, but ya kinda are," he replied, before giving me a really weird grin. "So come on, tell me what happened. I can just imagine all the lovely little conversations the two of you had about superheroes and comics and all the other nerdy things you both seem to love so much. Is Weird Kid just as strange and starey away from this place? "

"Stop calling him Weird Kid. It's horrible. And anyway, you could have found that out for yourself. He did invite you as well," I pointed out. "You were the one who said no and dumped the poor guy on his arse."

_J__ust like you did_, said that same spiteful voice. I whacked myself in the side of the head a couple of times to shut the voice up. I was pretty sure that hearing voices in your head was a sign of schizophrenia. Nice, so I could put that down on my fast-growing list of mental problems as well, right under 'anger issues' and 'unstable'.

Nathan raised his eyebrows at me. "Are you havin' a fit or somethin'?"

"No, I'm not, twat."

"Anyway, I couldn't go out last night because I had some seriously important shit to be gettin' on with," Nathan continued, putting his hands in his pockets.

I snorted. "Oh yeah, like what? I don't think having a wank is classed as 'seriously important shit'."

"That's female logic for you," he said with a shake of his head. "You have much to learn."

"I'd really rather not. The specifications of male pleasure isn't something I can really see helping me in achieving getting a job," I said.

"Depends if you plan on becomin' a prostitute or not. If that's the case, I call bein' your first customer." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

I punched him on the arm. "Well unlucky for you, I don't plan on being a prostitute. I want to be a psychologist."

"That's ironic. The girl who's probably the most insane out of all of us ASBOees is the one that wants to help the mentals."

"I'm not insane! And anyway, I think it's a good thing I've been in therapy, actually. I can use my months of psychotherapy as a research point. Think about it. I'll be the doctor who went of the rails at eighteen and _still_ managed to get her life back on track," I said dramatically, pretending to take a bow. "I'll be a fucking millionaire."

"So is this what you and Weird Kid spent the night talkin' about? Future plans and all that shit?"

"No. I told him what happened between me and my sister and he told me why he set that house on fire."

"Seriously? Tell me, tell me!"

"No way. It's well too personal. He can tell you if he wants to, 'cause I sure as hell ain't."

"So that's how you spent your night? Swappin' tales about how you're both fuck-ups?" Nathan asked sceptically.

"Nah, we spoke about other stuff. Nerd stuff you wouldn't care about. Then he walked me home," I answered. _You also lead him on and left him abandoned outside your house like some kind of slag. _And the voice was back.

"Well it sounds like an oh-so interesting evening. I wish I'd been there," he mocked, pushing open the door to the hall. He paused suddenly, grabbing my arm. "D'you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I frowned. I strained to listen- then I heard it. Muffled moans were coming from behind the metal screen of the storage cabinet. "Is that...? Oh my God. No way." I covered my hands with my mouth as I exploded into immature giggles.

"Yes way, Scorch," Nathan whispered. "That is indeed what shaggin' sounds like." He held a finger to his lips and started creeping towards the screen, motioning for me to follow him.

"Leave them alone," I whispered as he approached the metal. "Let them get on with it."

Nathan just shook his head and tried to wrench up the screen, which was when he discovered they'd taken all the necessary precautions and locked it. Thank Jesus, because I _really_ didn't want to see what was happening between Curtis and Alisha in that storage cabinet.

"Pervert," I whisper-taunted him. He totally ignored me and instead demanded through the metal, "Are you two shaggin' in there?!"

"Fuck off, you pervert!" came Alisha's slightly breathless voice.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted through to them. "I tried to get him to stop, I really did!"

"She's lyin'! She wanted to see just as much as I did! Ow!" he exclaimed as I hit his arm. "Anyway, how long are ya gonna be?"

"Will you piss off!?" Curtis yelled back, throwing something at the screen that made a metallic crashing noise.

"Okay," Nathan said in a mock-soothing tone. "Just give us a shout when you're done!"

As I looked at the maliciously excited expression on Nathan's face, I sighed, "We're gonna tell everyone about this, aren't we?"

"Indeed we are, Scorch," he replied elatedly, dragging me by the arm in the direction of the locker rooms.

* * *

"Well, since kicking the two of your arses to high heaven is thirsty work," I said smugly, standing up and stretching. "I think I'll go get myself a nice refreshing beverage."

"Yeah, yeah," said Emma distractedly, focussing on her shot as Courtney egged her on.

My hideous bowling shoes audibly squeaked as I walked along the lino of the lanes. The stupid things totally ruined my outfit. Whenever I went out I always liked to look my best, and tonight was no exception. I'd teamed black skinny jeans with black knee-high stiletto boots (not that you'd know it) and a hot pink blouse with the top three buttons undone . Emma and Courtney often gave me stick about how low-cut most of my tops were, saying they made me look sluttish, but my clothing mantra was 'if you've got it, flaunt it'.

As I opened one of the drinks fridges, the Irish boy from earlier appeared next to me. He looked me up and down in that really demeaning way when you can evidently tell they're assessing your attractiveness.

He seemed to recognise me, however, and he winked again. "Hello, beautiful. So we meet again. You know, you look even fitter up close."

"Nice chat-up line. Doesn't work on me, I'm afraid. I haven't changed my mind from ten minutes ago. I'm still not into one night stands and therefore, I am not going to fuck you any time soon."

"Never say never, love," he said confidently. "If you're not up for it, why advertise the goods?" Oh great, now he was staring at my boobs. Maybe I should start listening to the girls.

"I'm sorry that you only think with your dick as opposed to your brain," I retorted. "What is it with boys thinking that just because I show cleavage, it means I'm a slut who would sleep with someone I've known literally thirty seconds?"

"I think that's the label that comes with it, love," Irish answered. He opened the fridge he was standing by and pulled out a bottle of tropical juice. "I'm not opposed to goin' with a slut, if it helps."

"Yeah, this conversation is now officially over," I said tersely, shutting the fridge and going to pay for the can of Coke I'd grabbed.

As I dumped the can on the counter, along with a packet of popcorn and a Dairy Milk bar, a voice sounded through the Tannoy system, echoing around the bowling alley, "Can I have security to the concession stand, please?" Handing the cashier my money, I turned and saw Irish being dragged off by who I guessed was the bowling alley manager. Why didn't it shock me that he was being kicked out?

Irish grabbed hold of the manager's walkie-talkie and held it to his mouth, shouting, "I'm being assaulted by a chick with a dick!"

I shook my head in amused disbelief. Was this guy honestly that much of a twat? The answer was yeah, he probably was. I couldn't help but laugh as the manager wrestled Irish to the floor, while Irish was continuing to shout out, "Help! They sewed up his clunge! They sewed up his clunge!" The bowling alley security were suddenly on the scene, trying to get the boy to release the walkie-talkie.

I abruptly stopped laughing as Irish started to convulse on the ground, twitching and spasming violently. Oh bugger, he was having a fit or something. I tried to remember what they'd told me about fits on the First Aid training course I'd taken two years ago. You had to…you had to put them in the recovery position!

Abandoning my food on the counter, I hurried over to Irish and the manager, who was instructing one of the security guards to phone an ambulance.

"Quick! Put him in the recovery position!" I instructed him. "It'll clear his airways and stop him from suffocating!" The manager totally blanked me, so I dropped down to my knees and decided to do it myself.

As my hands closed around his arm to pull him to the side, he suddenly stopped spasming and went still. His eyes opened and, checking that nobody else was watching, shot me a very cocky grin. "Cheers for the concern, love, but I can handle myself." Jerking his arm out of my grip, he jumped to his feet and darted away, knocking over a jawbreaker dispenser in the process.

"You have gotta be kidding me," I muttered as I watched him dash towards the lanes. I retrieved my stuff from the counter and headed back to Courtney and Emma, who had put our game on hold to watch the comedic scene that was unveiling before us.

Irish ran out in to the lanes, slipping every so often, in a hopeless attempt to escape from the security guards and the so-called 'chick with a dick'. When this failed spectacularly, Irish found himself trapped between the pinsetter wall and the security guards, and he tried to crawl literally _into_ the pinsetter in a last desperate bid for freedom. I think it goes without saying that that last tactic really did not work.

As I watched Irish get dragged away by the security guards, Courtney turned to me and asked, "What took you so long?"

As a response, I simply pointed at Irish's departing form and simply said, "Need I say more?"

* * *

In the time Nathan and I had discussed the previous evening, discovered Alisha and Curtis in the storage locker and returned to the locker room, Kelly and Simon had both arrived and changed into their jumpsuits. Oh shit. Okay, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact…

As Nathan launched into a frenzied account of what we'd nearly seen, I was more than aware of the fact that Simon was trying to catch my eye. I was desperately looking anywhere other than at him, even if it meant paying a way over-the-top amount of attention to Nathan's recap, which included gestures.

"I had nothing to do with this," I said once he'd finished his demonstration. "I was simply conscripted into Nathan's perverted act."

"Oh yeah, I'm the perverted one," he shot back. "I'm not the person who was shaggin' during the workin' hours, was I?"

"You probably enjoyed it," retorted Alisha as she and Curtis wandered into the room, looking embarrassed. Nathan just made a strange laughing noise. "What, do you want to have a look?" she added irately to Simon, who, it turned out, had been recording most of Nathan's little stage show.

He quickly slid his phone shut and said hastily, "No thanks. I'm okay."

Now that we'd finished the whole 'sending clothes to Africa' thing, we were back to the usual dull routine of- da da da daaa- litter picking. Whilst everyone else still seemed to be on a high from the fact that we weren't going to prison, I just ambled along in the middle of them, my head going crazy again now I had seen Simon.

Kelly and Alisha were discussing how what Alisha and Curtis had was 'special' apparently, Curtis just swaggered along behind them, Nathan was still relentlessly teasing Simon by snapping his litter-picker by Simon's crotch and exclaiming, "It's not gay if I wank ya off with the grabber! We're not touching!"

Poor, poor Simon. I don't know why, but I suddenly seized hold of Nathan's arm and shouted, "For God's sake, just leave him alone!"

"Ooh, what you gettin' all defensive for?" Nathan said in a real 'wink-wink, nudge-nudge' tone.

"I'm fed up of you treating him like dirt!" _Pot, kettle, black _said the voice in my head, which I tried to ignore. "He's done absolutely nothing to you so just back the fuck off!"

Everyone went totally silent. Even Curtis tore himself away from some dark-haired girl he'd been talking to by the door to see what was going on.

Nathan raised his eyebrows at me and mock-gasped, "Do you love him?"

A sudden image of last night kicked into my thoughts, dialogue included, and I saw Kelly stiffen slightly. Oh God, she'd heard. Please don't say anything, please don't say anything, please don't say anything! Luckily, she must've heard my pleas and kept her mouth shut. However, this didn't do anything to stem the irritations Nathan had caused me.

"No, I don't love him!" I yelled, more harshly than I intended. Yep, just keep digging that hole of bitchiness, Georgia. Jesus, I swear I'd feel less horrible if I kicked a puppy. I quietened my voice, "You need to back off, seriously," I repeated. "All you ever do is humiliate and degrade him, and it isn't right! He doesn't deserve to be treated like that!"

"You looovee hiiim!" Nathan sang.

"Oh, get fucked," I spat, stalking away. I ended up back in the community centre, sitting in the storage locker with the screen down. A few minutes later, I heard Kelly calling me.

"Georgia! Georgia, are ya in 'ere?" I didn't bother to reply. "I know ya are, I can 'ear ya finkin'!"

_Then come find me, _I thought.

A second later, Kelly lifted up the metal screen and stared at me. I gave her a look that blatantly read _Don't want to talk about it_, but it didn't make any difference and she came and set next to me, drawing her knees up to her chin.

"Ya kissed Simon?" she said quietly.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah."

"Is that why ya been finkin' all them weird forts about 'im? Like not makin' eye contact and all that shit?"

"Yeah. I feel awful."

"Why? Is 'e that shit at kissin'?"

"No. It's just…something happened. While I was kissing him. I…I wasn't thinking about him as we did it. I was thinking about someone else," I admitted. "I freaked out, and I bolted. I left him out there in the street, like a completely heartless bitch."

"Were ya finkin' about Nathan?" Kelly asked bluntly.

Since I really didn't want to say it out loud, I thought _I guess there's no point in lying. I'm assuming you already know I fancy him._

"It ain't exactly hard ta work it out," she responded. "Even wivout 'earing ya forts."

"What do you mean?"

"Before ya started gettin' all friendly wiv Simon, you was always wiv 'im, and even taday ya were 'ere wiv 'im before all of os. Ya always used ta be laughin' wiv 'im, and ta be honest, ya couldn'ta made it more obvious. Ya jost locky that Nathan's so fockin' blind when it comes ta this kinda stoff that 'e hasn't noticed yet."

I had no idea what to say, so I just nodded. Kelly looked at me almost wisely, before standing up. "I reckon ya should talk ta Simon about wot 'appened."

"I can't. It'll be way too awkward. Besides, he probably hates me now," I said, standing up as well.

"Trost me, 'e doesn't 'ate ya," Kelly said. "He wants ta talk to ya. I know 'e does."

"How?"

Kelly grinned and tapped her temple with one of her long, red acrylic nails. "Cause I 'eard 'im fink it."

* * *

_"If I could turn back time,  
If I could find a way.  
I'd take back those words that have hurt you,  
And you'd_ stay."  
**-Cher, "If I Could Turn Back Time"**

* * *

**A/N- So that's the good ol' flashback episode. I hope I did it justice, as there is literally about ten minutes worth of actual community service stuff, so I tried my best to get imaginative with it. I hope you enjoyed it. Input from you guys always makes me feel good, so review? Pretty please? Xx Gee xX**


	11. Too Close For Comfort

**A/N- Many thanks to Gwenlynn and Guest for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven- Too Close For Comfort**

Despite what Kelly said about Simon not hating me, I still waited till the end of the day before I spoke to him. For the better part of the day I remained uncharacteristically quiet. I could tell Alisha and Curtis thought something was up, Simon and Kelly _knew_ something was up, and Nathan…well, Nathan wouldn't shut up about me apparently loving Simon, the twat.

I hung back in the locker room after Kelly, Alisha and Curtis had left and Nathan had buggered off somewhere else. Simon was about to leave as well when I quickly grabbed hold of his arm to stop him.

"I think we need to talk," I said uncomfortably. He nodded, and the two of us sat down on the wooden bench by the wall.

"Is this about last night?" he asked me.

I nodded, and suddenly all the horrible thoughts I'd been thinking about myself were spilling out. "I just…can't believe I did that to you! I feel awful! I didn't mean to lead you on like that, it was such a bitchy thing for me to do! But then again, I guess it makes sense, since all I seem to do is act like a bitch to everyone!"

"I don't think you act like a bitch," Simon said quietly.

"Oh please, you're just saying that to spare my feelings. Not that you should, by the way, because I treated you so disgustingly!" I put my head in my hands. "All I ever seem to do is fuck up every relationship I have with someone. My parents, my sister. Even my two best friends from school haven't spoken to me in a couple of weeks because apparently I'm becoming 'too problematic' for them. And now I've managed to screw up my friendship with you by acting like a skank and leaving you alone outside my house. I'm such a fucking failure." I felt my face crumple and I started to cry; harsh, loud sobs that didn't suit me at all echoing around the locker room.

Simon reached put and awkwardly patted my knee in a way that was probably meant to be consoling. "You haven't screwed up our friendship."

"How can you still sit here and act like that's true?! How can you still want to be my friend after last night?"

"It wasn't your fault," he said. "I shouldn't have kissed you. You were drunk, and you didn't know what you were doing."

"That makes it sound like I didn't have a clue what was happening. But I did, and that's what makes it even worse. I feel horrible because I kissed you back, and I just don't feel that way about you. I love you Simon, but as a friend."

Simon looked like he seriously had no idea what to say. "You really are my best friend Simon, and I still want you to be. I want to forget the last five minutes of last night ever happened, because before that I had a really great night out," I sobbed.

"So did I. I've never had a friend like you," he confessed.

"And I've never had a friend like you. So can we just go back to what things were like before last night's ending happened?" I practically pleaded, tears pouring down my face.

Simon nodded. "Of course we can."

For a change, it was me who hesitated before I put my arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

* * *

The next day, I was back to my usual, big-mouthed, slightly arrogant self. I was loud, proud, and so hyperactive I couldn't sit still. It was like all of what should have been yesterday's mentalness had merged with today's and created a massive tidal wave of I AM GEORGIA RICHES, AND I FEEL FABULOUS!

While Alisha, Kelly and Curtis lounged around on the steps that led down to the lake, I was jumping around like a mentalist, smoking and singing Justin Bieber's _Baby_ (the most annoying song in history) at the top of my lungs.

"I'm in pieces, baby fix me!" I sang, fully aware of how off-key I was. "And just shake me till you wake me from this bad dream! I'm goin' down, down, down! And I just can't believe my first love won't be around! And I'm like-!"

"Pervert!" I heard Nathan exclaim.

"Hey! You ruined my song!" I whinged, turning to glare at him, and instead I was faced with the sight of Nathan ripping Simon's phone straight out of his hand and asking him if he'd ever had sex with a melon. Simon suddenly lunged at Nathan, and the two of them ended up in a scuffle that had to be the most pathetic excuse for a fight ever. It was the first time I'd ever actually seen Simon angry; usually he just took all Nathan's shit.

I got up and tried to pull them apart as Nathan began chanting, "He's tryin' to kiss me! He's tryin' to kiss me!"

"Just give him his fucking phone back!" I shouted, smacking him on the top of his head.

"Ow! Stop hittin' me!" he whined, and I managed to extract the phone from his grip. As I handed the phone back at Simon, Nathan glared at the camera and juvenilely said, "Alright, have your little toy! Melon fuckaaah!" before flashing a V at the camera, which had apparently been recording this whole time.

"Don't touch my phone!" Simon grumbled, sounding pretty pissed off.

"Hey, calm down. I got it back for you, didn't I?" I said with a raised eyebrow. "I believe the answer you're looking for is yes, yes I did."

"Thanks."

"Hey, man, I am here for you," I said, putting my arm around his shoulders. "Speaking of which, you better bloody well not of been recording me!"

By a way of answer, Simon pressed PLAY on his video, the first forty-five seconds of which were of me leaping around like I was high on coke and screeching like a demented banshee. "Hmm. Well, that's attractive."

"I think it's funny," Simon said. "You're acting like yourself again."

"Yeah, hurray for me not being stuck in a practical coma of depression," I said sarcastically. I realised the others were gone. I looked around, and saw them all making their way back into the community centre. "Come on, I think that's our cue to get inside. Thanks for the heads up, guys!" I shouted to the others.

* * *

Once all of us were gathered in the main hall, Sally pointed to a load of floor-sweepers and told us we were to clean the floor of the main hall. During this, we were apparently going to each have a one-to-one meeting with Sally about our time on community service.

First in was Alisha, then Curtis, then Nathan, then Kelly, and then me. The second I sat down on the sofa in Sally's office I felt like I was in another therapy session, which automatically made me clam up.

"There's no need to look so worried. This isn't going to be anything like your therapy sessions," Sally said, sitting in a chair in front of the sofa. "This is just your chance to talk about community service. Do you feel that you've changed at all?"

"Oh, right," I said, relaxing a bit more. "Where do I start? It's been a real eye-opener. I feel a lot different to how I did before I started here."

"Why's that?"

"It's made me realise how shit my life was before I started here. Weird, isn't it? I'm a lot more impulsive and happier with people around me again. After what happened with my sister, I kind of cut off all interaction with well, practically everyone."

"I see. Well, it's good that you're finding your community service as a chance to socialise with other people. Is there anything you've learned from your time here?"

"Sure is. If you're choosing a place to stage a rabid attack on your sister, don't do it in a place filled with people. Or where policemen enjoy taking midday strolls."

"Or just don't do it in the first place?" Sally suggested.

I scoffed, "That's funny. I don't regret what I did. Sure, maybe I feel a bit bad that I broke her jaw, but in all fairness she completely had it coming, the stupid cow. If I hadn't done it then it would have just accumulated over time and I probably would have ended up killing her or something."

"Don't you think that's a little extreme?" said Sally.

"Not really, no. I'm an extremely violent person. You've got my file right there in your hands, you know that I'm mentally unstable with so-called violent tendencies."

"That may be your legal diagnosis, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true."

"Don't try and make me feel better about myself. I love having that as a diagnosis, to be honest. It's a great ice breaker, telling people that I'm legally off my nut."

"That's not a very positive way to look at it," she said. "Also, I've heard sarcasm is often used as a defense barrier. Did you know that?"

"I sure did," I said with a bitter little laugh. "But I love sarcasm. I love using sarcasm. You're right, I _do_ use it as a defensive barrier, but hey. I'd rather build up a wall of words than leave myself vulnerable to any form of attack from people who think it's okay to treat me like crap. So I act like a loud-mouthed, egotistical, and yes, sarcastic bitch because people tend to think twice about messing me around. I swear, and I get into fights because that's my way of telling people to either treat me right, or else back off and leave me the fuck alone."

"But this isn't the case with some of the others, is it?" asked Sally. I could see she was searching for a way to keep this all nice and positive. "I can see you've made friends with Simon."

"Yeah, I have. We have a lot in common, and also because he's one of the only people in this place who I can talk to without him coming out with some pathetic, immature, sexual comeback."

"I'm assuming you're referring to Nathan?"

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner."

"But you have no real aversions to him, do you?" Sally's question caught me slightly off-guard, not gonna lie. "I often see you with him."

"No, I don't dislike him. He's a mate," I replied. "You know, he's the funny guy who's always there. No matter how much you don't want him to be sometimes. You kinda have to like him, really."

"Hmm." Sally made a noise of discontent. "I see." She quickly made an effort to change the subject. "So, from your file I see you have plans to go to Portsmouth University?"

I snorted. "No, I _had_ plans to go to Portsmouth University. I didn't bother sending in my application as I knew I'd be rejected the second the admissions board found out I had a criminal record, and I really didn't want to have to deal with the rejection."

"What did you plan on studying?"

"This is where the irony kicks in. I was going to study to be a criminal psychologist. I was in the middle of studying my A-levels, one of which was obviously Psychology before all this came about. When that thing with my sister happened, the head teacher and my parents didn't think it was safe to have us both at the same high school, so I got expelled. Now I have nothing to do with my life once community service is over. I have no job, no qualifications. I may as well just get pregnant and live off benefits for the rest of my life." When it became distinctly obvious that Sally had no idea what to say, I stood up and stretched. "Are we done here? Because it's starting to feel like another therapy session, which means there is a very high chance I may start screaming and-slash-or throwing things."

Sally sighed quietly. "Yes, we're done. Would you mind sending in Simon next?" I nodded and pulled open the door.

"Oi, Simon! You're up next for the psychoanalogy!" I shouted. Simon looked almost scared as he walked past me to go into Sally's office, so I patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "She's not that bad. It's just a few questions, no need to freak out." He looked slightly more reassured as the door closed.

I grabbed hold of the floor-sweeper Simon had abandoned, but on closer inspection I had no idea how to use it. "Okay, how the fuck am I meant to work this thing?"

For reasons I couldn't quite understand, Simon's meeting with Sally lasted about twenty-five minutes, practically double the time any of our meetings lasted.

"Why's 'e bin in there longer than the rest of os?" demanded Kelly.

"He's obviously makin' more _progress_," Nathan said almost resentfully. "He's such a little arse-kisser."

"Aw, are you getting jealous because Simon's clearly more advanced in his mental rehabilitation than you?" I teased.

"Shut it, Scorch."

* * *

However, Simon's meeting with Sally did eventually end, and because we'd finished cleaning the hall's floor, Sally handed us each what looked like one of them things you use to scrape off wallpaper.

"I want you to go outside and remove all the old advertising posters from the walls of the community centre," she told us.

"We never did find out 'oo was puttin' them notes in our lockers," pointed out Kelly five minutes later, once we were outside, stuck into our job and away from people listening into us.

"That's probably a good thing," I said. "Whoever they were, they've stopped now, which means less stress on us to know who it was and why they were doing it."

"What did I say? I said they had nothin'," Nathan said smugly. "They were just pissin' in the wind."

"You don't know what they got on us!" said Curtis.

"Not much, apparently," I said. "Whoever it was _really_ would have told the police by now. We're fine, we're cool. It's probably all over."

"Maybe they're watching us right now," Simon cut in.

"They're not going to be watching us Simon," I said with a roll of my eyes. "If that was the case, I'd think they're more of a paedophile than a threat. Like I said, s'all good now."

"Yeah, this shit is old news! We have out-foxed the fox!" Nathan proclaimed, turning to me. "Which makes us very bloody fox-ay!" The stupid accent in which he said that last sentence was so ridiculous that I burst out laughing. He grinned at me and brazenly said, "You like that, huh?"

"It was funny," I admitted through a smile. "But I'll deny it if anyone asks!" The grin he then gave me was so cocky that I crumpled up the piece of paper I'd just removed and threw it at his head, hitting him square in the eye.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a flurry of scraping noises and torn paper. As I got changed at the end of our shift, I was singing _I Write Sins, Not Tragedies _by Panic! At The Disco quite loudly to myself. I seemed to be in a seriously tuneful mood today. I was alone in the locker room, or so I thought.

"Oh what a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding, says a bridesmaid to a waiter! Yes, but what a shame, what a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore!" I more shouted than sang. "I chime in with a, 'haven't you people ever heard of, closing the goddamn door?' No, it's much better to face these kind of things, with a sense of poise and rationality!"

"Jesus, is someone killin' a cat?" mocked Nathan, appearing suddenly next to my locker.

"Holy shit!" I shouted out of surprise, but it came out more cheerful than irritated. "Don't do that, you nearly gave me a fuckin' heart attack! I'm more than aware that I sound like a frog that's trapped in a washing machine, but I sing when I'm happy."

"So why're you in such a good mood?" he asked me, pulling a black hoodie over his shoulders.

"I'm honestly not that sure," I replied.

"Yesterday you were actin' like someone had died," he carried on. "Today you're actin' like you're high or somethin'." He peered at me. "Did you get laid?"

"Totally," I said sardonically, rolling my eyes. "No, I didn't. I don't do one night stands, it's just dirty and wrong."

"That's a shame. I thought you and Weird Kid had continued on from your little date and sealed your unconditional love for each other by shaggin'."

"Oh my God, please will you let that go?! I. Do. Not. Love. Simon."

"You don't have to worry about offendin' me," he said breezily. "I myself can't see the attraction to those dead, lifeless shark eyes and serial-killer hairstyle, but hey, if you're into that shit then go for it."

"You're such a prick," I sighed. "I'm _not_ into that shit. I don't love Simon like that! We're just mates! Yes, okay, I love the kid, I really do, he's like my best friend. But he's way too good and straight-laced for me, bless 'im."

"So you go for the bad boys?"

I resisted the urge to burst into Alexandra Burke. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. They're waaay more entertaining. You sounded shocked."

"Well yeah. You're all nerdy and cute and into all that superhero shit. You basically scream 'good girl'. Well, minus the fact you dress like a tart most of the time." He paused to look at my pink shorts. "Are the only clothes you own shorts, skinny jeans and miniskirts?"

"Basically, yep. They're the nicest things to wear. I'm comfortable in them. I practically _vow_ to never wear anything that goes down to my knees, aside from skinny jeans. I swear by shorts and skirts. Besides, who're you calling a good girl?" I snorted. "I'm on community service. Any label of 'good girl' that I had is long gone. Better keep your distance." Suddenly, the rest of what he'd said to me clicked. "Wait a second. You think I'm cute?"

"I never said that," he said quickly.

"Yeah you did." I leaned closer to him, grinning. "Ha! I can tell. You totally love me! You think I'm beautiful! You want to have lots of curly-haired, blue-eyed babies with me!"

"Will you shut it? I meant cute as in…er…adorable!" he said quickly. "Y'know, like them furry little teddy bears you get in Toys R Us. You're like one of them."

"Okay, sweetie. Whatever helps you sleep at night," I said, patronizingly patting his cheek.

"Get off," Nathan said irritatedly.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said with a laugh, grabbing my bag from the top of my locker and blowing him an exaggerated kiss. As I was about to walk out of the locker room, I heard Nathan call me.

"Oi! Scorch! Wait up!"

"What?" I said, turning around.

"D'you fancy going out for a drink tonight?" asked Nathan.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you taking the piss?"

"What? No. I was just wonderin'. You know, doing the whole gentlemanly thing."

I laughed. "As sweet as that is, I'm gonna have to pass. I'm so tired I think I might collapse. Sorry." Nathan actually looked kind of affronted. I weakened. "Okay, look. Instead of going out, you could come back to mine. I've got a pepperoni pizza in the freezer and various types of alcohol in the fridge, and we could watch a movie. Sound any good?"

"Depends on the movie."

"You've got a choice: _Sinister_, _Resident Evil _or _Titanic_."

"Well, you can cross _Titanic_ right off the list. There is no fuckin' way I'm sittin' through three hours of that girly shit. I don't care about the other two. You choose."

"_Resident Evil_ it is, then."

* * *

"You live _here_?" Nathan said as I opened my front door.

"No Nathan, I don't. I just so happen to have the keys to some total stranger's flat," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Of course I live here! Anyway, what do you mean 'here'?! It's a nice place."

"Your living room is fuckin' _red_. This place looks like it was painted by a colour-blind monkey." Nathan pushed past me and headed for my fridge, peering inside before making a noise of disparagement. "_Strawberry cider_? You've gotta be kiddin' me, Scorch."

"I like it," I said defensively, pulling the can out of his hand and cracking it open for myself. "I do have normal cider as well. Or there's Smirnoff, wine, or Bailey's. Take your pick."

"No beer?"

"Nope, don't like it." I took a swig of my cider. "Anyway, make yourself at home. Within reason!" I shouted after him as he made an immediate beeline for my bedroom. "Nathan!"

"Bright pink walls?! _Seriously_?" came his almost disgusted shout. "_Star Wars _posters?! _Batman_ posters!? Jesus, you really are Queen of the Nerds, aren't you?"

"Hey! Pink's my favourite colour! And yeah, I practically _am_ Nerd Queen! I wear my crown with pride!" I called to him as I pulled the frozen pizza out of the freezer and stuck it in the oven. Nathan remained suspiciously quiet, so I stopped pouring oven chips onto a cooking tray and went into my bedroom.

Holy shit. It looked like a bomb had hit. In the two minutes Nathan had been alone, he'd ransacked my wardrobe and pulled one of my dresses over the top of his own clothes, knocked over half my make-up on my dressing table and was now currently in the process of going through my underwear drawer.

"Seriously? You're perving on my underwear?" I demanded, leaning on the doorway.

"Not _pervin'_ as such. Just lookin'," he replied, pulling a hot-pink lace thong out of the drawer and twirling it around his index finger. "How come you never wear this to community service? Give us guys a treat."

"Because I don't want you staring at my arse while I get changed. You do that enough as it is," I answered, going over to him and pulling the thong off his finger. I threw it back in the drawer and slammed the door shut. "Take off my dress and get out of my room. The rest of the flat, go ahead, look wherever you want. But this place is totally off-limits."

Nathan obediently removed the dress, but ignored the rest of the sentence, and instead pulled one of the pictures off of my wall. He wolf-whistled. "Lookin' good, Scorchy." I looked over his shoulder at the picture. It was the most recent picture I had of me, Emma and Courtney, my two best friends.

We'd all gone on holiday to Spain the summer before, for Courtney's seventeenth birthday, and the picture was of the three of us standing by our rental villa's pool. We were dressed for summer; Courtney in a turquoise swimsuit, her blonde hair in a messy little bun, Emma in black shorts and a black vest and me in a bright pink (shocker) bikini, my dark hair tumbling over my shoulders in little waves. I stared at my grin. I was so carefree, so happy, so clueless as to what was going to happen a few months later.

I pulled the picture out of his hand and tacked it back onto the wall. "I know, I know," I joked. "I look gorgeous. Having a tan seems to work for me."

"It really does," Nathan said absent-mindedly. I raised my eyebrow at him, and he cleared his throat. "So anyway, how long's that pizza gonna take?"

I sighed. "Not long, don't shit yourself."

It only took another twenty minutes for the pizza and chips to cook. The two of us then settled on my sofa, ready to watch _Resident Evil_.

"These are seriously the best zombie movies ever made," I said, taking a sip of my second can of cider.

"The graphics are shite," said Nathan, biting into his pizza.

"Exactly. They don't make me feel sick. I told you I don't like blood, so the awful graphics seem like a happy medium. I can watch good movies without puking up. Bazinga."

"You're honestly, totally strange. I think you might actually be stranger than Weird Kid."

"Seriously, stop with the Simon-bashing. He's my friend. There's no need to be such a dick to him."

The conversation then switched to Nathan going on and on about his lack of a power. He whined and whined about how it was 'bullshit' and 'fucking unfair' and 'Weird Kid has one and I don't! On what planet does that make any sense?' I slapped him for that last one. He then decided to go on about what his power could be, and there were some shockers in there. They ranged from telekinesis and super-speed to being able to remember everything he'd heard (that totally failed after I asked him the three movies I'd offered to watch, and he couldn't name any of them, including _Resident Evil_, which was still playing).

After the movie (which was punctuated by drinking a whole bottle of vodka and eating the pizza, followed chocolate ice cream) Nathan helped me clear up the plates and empty glasses. We sat down on the sofa again, some shitty late-night TV show humming quietly in the background. We talked, drank bottle of wine between us, and totally lost track of time, right up to the moment the TV announced their 'midweek, midnight horror movie' was going to be _A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors_, and it was coming up next.

"Woah, midnight?!" I repeated incredulously, looking at my watch, blinking a couple of times. Yep, it was midnight. "Holy shit." I looked out of the window, and it was totally pitch black.

Nathan stood up and stretched. "I should probably get goin'."

"Yeah," I said, practically lurching to my feet. It was as if all the units of alcohol I'd drunk over the last few hours had suddenly caught up to me, and my head suddenly felt seriously fuzzy.

"Back to the cold, empty community centre. I'll walk all that way in the dark and bitter, bitter winds. Hopefully I'll avoid the rapists and murderers that stalk the night streets looking for poor, unsuspecting, handsome victims…"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" I nearly shouted. "If you really want to, you can stay the night. Sleep on the sofa."

"Well, I was hoping for more of a sharing-bed scenario, but-"

"You can take the sofa or fuck off straight back to the community centre," I interrupted.

"The sofa sounds good," he said quickly.

"Good," I said. The two of us stood there, facing each other. Words had failed both of us. The silence was hanging in the air like a noose. I bit my nail, a habit I'd been trying to shrug off for eight years. Nathan looked at me, and our faces began to slowly- very slowly- move towards each other. Both of us stank of alcohol fumes, and I wondered if he'd be doing this if we weren't both pissed. This was getting way too close for me. I was beginning to feel really hot under the collar (figuratively speaking. The camisole I was wearing didn't have a collar).

I smartly stepped back wards and cleared my throat. "Well, if you're staying, we may as well stay up and watch _A Nightmare On Elm Street_. It's one of my favourites," I said quickly.

He blinked, looking a bit bemused. He quickly got over it, though. "Whatever happened to hatin' blood?" he demanded.

"Trust me. You thought the _Resident Evil_ graphics were bad? Just wait till you watch this, it's a shocker, trust me." We spent the second movie chatting, laughing and drinking more wine and vodka- so much so that the two of us both passed out on my sofa.

* * *

_"Was I invading in,  
On your secrets?  
Was I too close for comfort?  
You're pushing me out,  
When I wanted_ in."  
**-McFly, "Too Close For Comfort"**

* * *

**A/N- I read it back and no, this isn't supposed to be the whole 'asking Nathan to tea' bit from later on. I have got an idea for that, but till then, I'm keeping schtum! I hope you liked the chapter, though! Review guys! You know you wanna! ;) Xx Gee xX**


	12. Parent Trap

**A/N- As usual, super thanks to Madame Lizzie and ToWriteForLove for reviewing! You guys are amazing!**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve- Parent Trap**

The next morning I woke up with a crick in my neck the size of fucking Africa. My head hurt, and the inside of my mouth felt like the it was coated in sawdust. Drinking copious amounts of alcohol never, ever agreed with me, and today was no exception. I opened my eyes, trying not to recoil from the sudden sunlight, and realised I'd fallen asleep on Nathan. In our alcohol-fuelled sleep, we'd both slipped down on the sofa, and this meant I was lying on top of Nathan.

I could hear the steady _thump-thump-thump_ of his heartbeat, the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. It was surprisingly comforting. Then I felt something else. Nathan's arm was tight around my waist, binding me to him. It felt really nice. I was tempted to go back to sleep, but then I remembered community service.

"Shit," I moaned. I forgot I wasn't in bed and rolled over, ripping myself from Nathan's grasp and dumping myself on the floor. The back of my head cracked against the exposed floorboards. "Ow!"

"What's goin' on?" Nathan mumbled, but he was so disorientated from literally just waking up that it sounded more like, "Wazgoinon?"

"Nothing. We fell asleep on the sofa. It's morning." I sat up, rubbing where I'd hit my head on the floor. On the plus side, the pain totally distracted me from my hangover-induced headache.

Nathan made a groaning noise, sat up and stretched. "Are you cookin' breakfast? Because I seriously wouldn't say no to a bacon sandwich right now."

I glared at him from my spot on the floor. "How about no?" I looked at the clock hanging on the wall over my oven. Eight thirty. "Shit. Even if I wanted to, there's no time! We've gotta be at the community centre in like, half an hour!" I jumped to my feet. "Argh! I'm going for a quick shower! Be right back!"

"Need any help shampooin'?" Nathan called after me as I practically ran into my bathroom.

"Fuck off!" I called back, slamming the door.

After the world's fastest shower, I made Nathan go in after me. I had to run past him in just a towel to get to my room, but it couldn't be helped. I pulled on a pink and black striped playsuit, and I painted on my make-up so quickly I'm amazed I didn't take my eye out with the eyeliner. There was nothing I could do about my hair, so I just half-dried it with my towel and left it loose around my shoulders.

"Nathan, come on, let's go!" I shouted, banging on the bathroom door with my fist while simultaneously choking down a Belvita Breakfast biscuit and lacing a pair of black Converse on to my feet. Who says women can't multitask? I leaned against the door, looking at my phone. "Seriously Nathan, we've gotta be there in ten minutes! And we still need to get changed when we're there!" The bathroom door opened so suddenly I fell through, colliding with Nathan. He hadn't put his t-shirt back on, so he was shirtless, his skin still slightly damp from his shower.

"Keen, aren't you?" he drawled.

"Oh shut up and put a top on," I said uncomfortably, removing my hands from his chest, where I'd thrown them out to break my fall. "We honest to God have to leave _right now_."

* * *

Even running as fast as we could, we were still ten minutes late. The two of us burst through the front doors of the community centre, gasping for breath. Simon, Kelly, Alisha and Curtis, who were already changed into their jumpsuits, all stared at us. Crippled with a stitch, I dropped to all fours, choking as I tried to force some air into my lungs.

"See! This…is why…I don't…run!" I panted.

"Where the hell have you two been?" enquired Sally.

"Nowhere much," Nathan said, his breathing returned to normal. "Just felt like goin' for a mornin' run. Isn't that right, Scorch?"

"Sure is," I gasped, now flat-out lying on the ground. "However, I completely forgot that I suffer from serious lung problems. Oh God, I think I might be dying."

"Right," said Sally, sounding unimpressed. "Both of you go and get changed, then meet the others outside the front of the building. You're going to be cleaning the windows."

"Yeah, cheers!" I said sarcastically, struggling to my feet, continuing to hack out various sounds that indicated my lungs were still devoid of oxygen. "It's not like there's a high chance I might be dying over here!" But still, not one to want to cause a fight (ha!), I followed Nathan into the locker rooms.

When we made our way outside five minutes later, Kelly and Simon had already gotten started on cleaning the windows. As I grabbed a bucket of hot, soapy water, I noticed that Alisha and Curtis were MIA. No prizes for guessing what _they_ were probably up to.

"Y'know, maybe I can talk to animals," Nathan stated as we started sluicing the bubbles off the glass, evidently continuing his ideas from last night.

"Okay, what the _fuck_ gave you that idea?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, why would ya even fink that?" said Kelly.

"I saw this basset hound eatin' a kebab off the pavement," he explained. "And I was like 'you dirty bastard', and this basset bound gave me a right funny look."

"It was probably thinking 'who's the curly-haired fuckwad watching me eat?'," I replied.

"No, it wasn't that kinda look, it was more like-" Nathan jutted his chin out in a way that supposedly resembled a basset hound. "Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?"

"That sounded more like a cross between Droopy The Dog and a mafia lord," I said, fighting the urge to laugh. The next thing I registered was a sodden sponge smacking me in the right side of my face. I wiped the suds out of my right eye and glared at Nathan, who was practically pissing himself laughing. "Urgh. Very mature, Nathan."

He wasn't listening though, his attention instead on something through the glass. He moved over to my window and suddenly jabbed a finger at something inside. I followed where he was pointing, and saw a gaggle of young women walk by, all of them clutching babies or toddlers.

"See. Babies. That's why I always use a condom, and if the girl looks dirty, I use _two_," Nathan felt the need to enlighten us. He elbowed me in the ribs. "Belt and braces."

"You know using two actually makes them weaker, right?" I pointed out. "So by doing that, it's even _more_ likely you've knocked up some random girl, or else contracted like, Super AIDS or something."

"I think I'd know if I had Super AIDS. It probably causes your dick to fall off or somethin'," he retorted, moving back to his own window.

After about ten more minutes, Kelly, Nathan, Simon and I all moved inside to wash the inside of the windows. Soon after this, the pretty, dark-haired girl Curtis had been talking to a couple of days earlier walked through the door. She looked around the room a couple of times and Nathan, ever the subtlest, wolf-whistled at her. From the way her head kind of tipped back a bit, I could tell she wasn't impressed.

However, she still turned to us and asked, "Hey, have you seen Curtis?"

"'Oo are you?" asked Kelly suspiciously.

"I'm his girlfriend," the girl answered. The four of us all must be wearing the same exact expressions of WTAF. "Do you know where he is?" the girl continued.

_Shagging his other girlfriend_, I thought.

Nathan made a few stuttering noises before he burst out with, "He's been arrested."

"What for?" asked the girl.

"For…exposin' himself," replied Nathan.

"What?!" she exclaimed, clearly shocked.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah. _Flashin__'_."

"At some scouts," Simon felt the need to stick on, and I did a mental facepalm.

"Try tyin' a knot in that," carried on Nathan. "Or maybe you have?" So not subtle, guys! If there was any way to make it obvious we were lying, that was it.

However, the girl was either extremely dense or extremely gullible, as she snapped, "Very funny. Well when you see him, can you tell him to call Sam?" before stomping out of the community centre.

As she left, Nathan squirted some antibacterial spray at her and laughed, "She seems nice."

"Wot the hell was that all about?" said Kelly.

"I've got no idea," I replied. "God, this is like _Twilight_ or something. Anyone else feeling we should be wearing Team Alisha t-shirts?"

A while later, when we decided to take a break, Curtis and Alisha returned to us from wherever they had been, but while Alisha, me and Kelly went to go to the locker rooms, Curtis disappeared up to the roof. Nathan went after him, a ridiculously keen look on his face. I seriously hoped he wasn't going to plague Curtis about the 'two girlfriends' scenario, as I ultimately had a feeling this would earn him a punch in the head from Curtis.

While Alisha stood in front of the mirror and reapplied her make-up and Kelly re-tied her ponytail, I leaned back against my locker and lit up a cigarette. Alisha suddenly turned to me, a sly smile on her face.

"Can I help you?" I said, blowing my smoke in her face with a giggle.

"Yeah. So, you and Nathan, huh?" she said. "I have to say, I _so_ didn't see that coming."

"What are you on about?" I frowned.

"Oh come on, Georgia. Don't play the fucktard. Why were you two so late this morning?" I opened my mouth. "And _don__'__t_-" she cut across me. "Say you went for a run, 'cause that's obvious bullshit!" I closed my mouth again. "You're shagging, aren't you?"

"What?! No!"

"Then how come you were both late then?"

I sighed. "Last night, he asked me to go for a drink with him, but I was well too tired so I said he could come to mine. Not-" I insisted, seeing the look on both Kelly and Alisha's faces. "-to shag, but so we could watch a movie and eat pizza. But we ended up getting so pissed that we both passed out on my sofa and overslept."

"Yeah right," scoffed Alisha.

"Nah, she's tellin' the troof," elaborated Kelly. She'd evidently been listening to my thoughts, or else had been earlier on.

"_Thank you_," I said with exasperation.

"But do you _want_ to shag him?" Alisha persisted. Fuck me, did she ever give up?!

"I don't know! Maybe! I mean, he's not exactly ugly, is he?" I replied agitatedly. "However, I'm not the kind of girl who likes to be fucked and then dumped on her arse. I want a proper relationship, and I seriously _don__'__t_ think Nathan's the kind of guy who wants that, is he?" Both girls made noises of agreement, and we lapsed into a slightly awkward silence. That was when I heard it. A baby. A little baby crying somewhere in the community centre.

Stubbing my fag out on my locker, I said to the girls, "You hear that too, right?"

Alisha frowned. "Hear what?"

I moved towards the locker room door. "A baby's crying somewhere."

"I don't 'ear nothin'," said Kelly. Ignoring her, I went out into the entrance hall, just as Nathan came through the doors.

"Do you hear the baby?" I asked him. He nodded, then pointed. I turned. A little baby boy was toddling around the entrance hall, all by himself. He couldn't have been much older than nine or ten months.

"Hello, baby," I crooned, going over to him and picking him up. He was gorgeous, with big blue eyes and light brown curls covering his little head. He had that clean, soapy baby smell.

Nathan came up behind me and ruffled the baby's hair. "Who are you?" The baby made the most adorable little giggling noise. "Hello. Hm? Who are you?" Nathan held his arms out to indicate he wanted to hold the baby, and I reluctantly passed the baby over. The baby leant his head against Nathan's chest, and Nathan laughed softly. I smoothed the baby's hair down and stroked his soft little cheek, and he grinned at me. He reached up and started touching Nathan's face, putting his finger in Nathan's mouth.

"Finn?" came a call behind us. The was the hurried pattering of running footsteps, and a young blonde woman appeared, looking very relieved. "Oh, where did you go, eh?" She took the baby from Nathan's arms and cuddled him close. She must have been his mother. "He's always crawling off," she said to me and Nathan.

"He's beautiful," said Nathan.

"Absolutely adorable," I concurred.

"Ah, thanks," she replied.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Finn," she answered, looking at the baby and starting to walk off. For reasons unknown to me, I felt a kind of pull towards little Finn, and I started following her. So did Nathan.

"So how old is he?" he asked.

"Nine months," the mum replied. Finn looked over his mum's shoulder, and I smiled at him, he looked so adorable.

"Nine months? He must take loads of looking after," I said.

"Yeah, just a bit. I only had two hours sleep last night, didn't I?" she said to Finn in that loving tone parents seem to reserve for young children.

"Isn't there anyone around to help you?" I said.

"Yeah, where's his dad?" asked Nathan.

"Er, he's not around," the mum said uncomfortably.

"Really?" Nathan sounded quite dismayed at this news.

"That's horrible," I agreed. "Well maybe…maybe we could help you out? We could babysit for you?"

"Yeah, we could play with him for a while. We could hang out," said Nathan.

"Georgia! Nathan!" Sally's sharp tone voiced behind us. Both of us unwilling turned around to look at her. "What the hell are you both doing?"

"We found a baby," Nathan answered, turning to point at Finn, but he and his mum were disappearing into another room. We both waved at their retreating figures. "Bye Finn!"

"He was gorgeous," I said tenderly, looking back at Sally. "Wasn't he?"

"Did you see him? He is beautiful," said Nathan in a similar tone.

Sally looked at us sceptically. "Are you two taking the piss?"

"No!" said Nathan affrontedly.

"Of course we're not!" I said offendedly. Sally just kind of shook her head at us and walked away while Nathan and I stared transfixed after where Finn had gone with his mum.

"I can't wait until I have a baby," I said wistfully.

* * *

The next day, we were back to removing the old posters from the community centre. I shared a post with Curtis and Nathan, who were discussing his 'Sam and Alisha' crisis.

"So did you go with 'nasty snatch gunk', yeah?" Nathan said to Curtis.

"Tried it," Curtis replied.

"Ew. That's completely foul," I said, wrinkling my nose in disgust.

"Shh, Scorch, the men are talkin'," said Nathan, holding a hand up to my face. I sighed and went back to scraping at the pillar. Nathan looked back at Curtis. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." Curtis sounded a lot quieter than usual, I noticed. Nathan made an obnoxious laughing noise that made me want to slam his head into the concrete pillar we were scratching at.

Curtis looked kind of down. "It's done. It's over." I patted him kindly on the shoulder. Nathan, meanwhile, was apparently not over the fact Curtis had told Sam she had 'nasty snatch gunk', as he was still quietly laughing to himself.

"You know what you said about, no matter what you do, the ones you love will be the ones who pay?" Curtis said to Nathan, who nodded. "Is that from _Spider-Man_?"

Nathan shrugged. "I dunno, I was just tryin' to sound intelligent."

"Believe me, it would take a lot more than that to make you sound intelligent," I said. "And yes," I added to Curtis. "It is from _Spider-Man_."

"Prick!" Curtis exclaimed to Nathan.

"Why are you complainin'?" he said defensively. "You got away with it! Alisha didn't find out, job done! Sorted!"

"I hate to say it, but he does kinda have a point," I said, earning me a slight glare from Curtis, who then turned to look at Alisha. As I followed his gaze, I saw Simon hurry into the building after Sally for some weird reason. Shortly after this, I heard it again, clear as day, and it made me stop dead what I was doing. Finn was crying. He needed me. As I was looking around for the source of the tearful noises, I noticed Nathan had frozen too, and was doing the same.

"D'you hear that?" he asked the others.

Kelly and Alisha both looked at him oddly. "Wot?" said Kelly.

"A baby cryin'…"

"Wot are ya talkin' about?" demanded Kelly.

"I hear it too…" I said, trailing off slightly. Nathan and I both looked at each other, and kind of shook our heads as if to shake off the noise. Not that it made any difference. The crying was still echoing in my head, growing more and more insistent. Practically simultaneously, Nathan and I both dropped our scrapers and ran into the community centre in desperate search of Finn.

As we opened the entrance hall doors, I saw Simon sitting on one of the sofas by himself. He looked like he was waiting for something.

"Do you hear it?" I asked him urgently, seizing him by the shoulders and giving him a little shake.

"Hear what?" he asked, sounding confused.

"The baby," whispered Nathan. Simon shook his head, and I released his shoulders.

"The toddler group," I said to Nathan, who nodded. We practically sprinted to the room where the week's day-care area had been set up. Nathan and I looked through the room's window. Sure enough, there was Finn, playing by himself while his flaky mother slept on a beanbag.

_She doesn__'__t deserve a son_, I found myself thinking bitterly. Out loud I just said, "There he is."

The second Nathan and I stepped into the room, the crying abruptly stopped. I bent down and swooped Finn into my arms with a whisper of, "Come on, little guy. It's alright. We're here..." Finn reminded me of Charlie when he was a baby, and I was determined to protect Finn. I turned to Nathan and nodded. And then we ran.

* * *

Simon didn't know what he was expecting to see after Georgia and Nathan had run past him, claiming they could hear a phantom baby crying. However, it certainly wasn't the sight of them sprinting out the front doors, a small blue bundle in Georgia's arms.

He didn't know what to do. Were they kidnapping a child? Were they honestly that stupid? Simon didn't think Georgia was, but Nathan was enough of a danger to himself, let alone a baby.

Simon was up on his feet, running outside so he could tell the others. As he slowed to a stop in front of them, they all looked at him strangely.

"I think I've just seen Georgia and Nathan stealing a baby!" he panted, pointing to the community centre.

* * *

As Nathan and I ran along the lake bank, Finn safe in my arms, the only conscious thought in my brain was, _Look after Finn. Protect him. Love him_, and I didn't know why. I just knew I needed to listen to myself.

We made our way up to some of the higher levels of the estate, trying to get as far away from everyone. Far away…where Finn could be loved and looked after the way he deserved to be…

* * *

"Why would they take a baby?" demanded Alisha, sounding a bit worried.

"If they get caught, they're screwed!" said Curtis. He elbowed Kelly. "Call them!" Kelly whipped her phone out of her pocket and punched in Nathan's number first, but there was no answer. She then tried Georgia, but again, her phone was switched off.

"Bof of 'em 'ave got their phones turned off," she said anxiously. "We need ta find 'em!"

* * *

When Nathan and I felt we were high enough up, the two of us (and Finn obviously in my arms) went over to the concrete half-wall and looked out over the estate. There was quite a nice view. Finn yawned, and I suggested we both sing him to sleep.

"I went to the animal fair," Nathan and I softly sang to him as I gently rocked him in my arms. Nathan had one arm around me and was using his other hand to hold Finn's. "The birds and the bees were there. The big baboon by the light of the moon, was combing his golden hair. The monkey fell out of his bunk, and slid down the elephant's trunk. The elephant sneezed and fell to his knees, and that was the end of the monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey!" I leaned forward and nuzzled my face into Finn's hair as Nathan gently stroked one of Finn's curls.

* * *

After frenetically running around half of the estate, the group found themselves in the middle of a square of buildings. It was like Georgia and Nathan and the baby had totally disappeared. As they all frantically looked around, Curtis looked up and saw them both at the edge of one of the building's roofs, singing to the baby.

"What are they doing?!" he exclaimed, slightly out of breath.

"We need to stop them!" declared Alisha as they started running up the stairs. Georgia's clumsiness combined with Nathan's sheer stupidity would probably result in them dropping the baby over the side of the building.

The sounds of four separate footsteps stampeding up the stairwell echoed all over the stairway as they all desperately tried to reach the baby, Georgia and Nathan before something bad happened.

* * *

As Nathan and I finished the song, Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and Simon all burst out on to the roof from the stairwell, all of them looking very panicked and very out of breath.

"Wot the fock are ya bof doin'?!" demanded Kelly.

I gasped. Nathan clamped one of his hands down gently over Finn's ear (his other arm was still around my shoulders) and said, "Hey! There's no need for language like that!"

I put my head nearer to Finn's ear and said, "Don't you listen to her. That was a very naughty word and Kelly should know better." I gave her a reproachful look as I said this.

"You're actin' like a couple of freaks!" she said.

"Give us the baby!" Curtis ordered gently.

"You're not taking him!" Nathan and I cried out simultaneously, both of us taking a step back from the group. "He needs us!" I insisted. They couldn't take Finn away from us! They wouldn't! He needed us! He did!

"I think they've gone mental!" said Simon, and I, somewhat childishly, stuck my tongue out at him.

"That baby! 'E's got a power!" said Kelly all of a sudden. "'E's makin' you two fink that you're 'is parents!"

"Yeah? Well he needs better parents!" I said fiercely. "His mum's a waste of space who doesn't care for him, and his dad's disappeared to God knows where! He _needs_ us!"

"Yeah, he needs a dad! I know what that's like!" Nathan said softly. "My dad was never around. Look what it did to me!"

"Yeah, and my parents could never be bothered with me properly, and look at what a screw-up I became. We're gonna be his parents!" I added, slightly proud.

"You two? _You__'__re _gonna be its parents?" Curtis said derisively. I bristled at the way Curtis referred to Finn as 'it'. Nathan and I both nodded firmly.

"Nathan, ya 'omeless!" pointed out Kelly. "Ya livin' in the community centre. And Georgia, ya 'ouse 'as only got one bedroom!"

"Neither of you have got money, no jobs," continued Curtis.

"You're both kinda poor," carried on Alisha.

"And you've both got criminal records," concluded Simon.

"Ya can barely look after yaselves!" stated Kelly.

"Social services will take one look at you two…!" sneered Curtis.

"Seriously, the kid deserves better! Way better!" scoffed Alisha.

"Alright, easy!" I said, something inside me snapping. "Look, it's easy! Nathan can come live with me, and we'll put a cot in the living room! I can get a job selling the Big Issue or something!"

"Yeah, and if we run outta money, I'll go to the park and forage for nuts and berries!" Nathan interjected.

"Yeah!" I said defiantly. "You can't take him away from us!" Nathan and I stood there, glaring at the other four, daring them to come over and take Finn. But suddenly, any form of bond I felt with him was gone, and I was left feeling blank, and very, very confused. I looked at Nathan, and he was wearing a very dumb expression. I looked pointedly at his arm around my shoulders, and he abruptly removed it. Then I felt movement in my arms, and I looked down in alarm.

"Er, okay. I'm not being funny, but there is a baby in my arms. Why is there a baby in my arms!?" I said, but he was so cute that I didn't really want to let go of him. Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and Simon launched into a quick explanation of the last half an hour. A few memories flash into my mind: Nathan and me singing to the baby, looking like two proud parents; Nathan saying how his dad was never around when he was a kid; me admitting that my parents never properly cared for me… Oh God. Yeah, nice one, just casually admit to everyone that my parents didn't give a fuck about me.

"We need ta take 'im back to 'is mum," said Kelly.

"Yeah, yeah…good idea," I said, sounding dazed. Nathan, Kelly and I quickly made our way back to the community centre. That way, Nathan and I wouldn't be arrested for kidnapping a toddler. Almost the second we walked through the front door, the baby's distressed mother came running up to us, looking frantic with worry.

"Why have you got my baby?" she screamed at us, practically ripping the baby out of my arms. "Did you take him?" she furiously accused me and Nathan.

"What? No!" I said, as Nathan started stuttering, "No, no…"

"Both of you, stay away from him! Alright, stay away!" the mum shrieked.

"Jesus, woman, calm down! We found him wandering around outside by himself! We were bringing him back! Look at him, he's fine!" I managed to interject amongst her angry shouts.

She held her baby closer to her and sadly said to him, "Why do keep crawling off? Hey?" She avoided eye contact with anyone as she said, "Even he thinks I'm a shit mum. I don't know what to do. It's as if I'm not enough for him." She sounded close to tears, the poor woman.

"You should take 'im to see 'is dad," suggested Kelly.

"Yeah, well, he's not interested," the woman said, sniffing.

"Trost me, as soon as 'e sees 'im," Kelly continued. "'E'll wanna be 'is dad again. I promise ya."

The mum gave the three of us a sad kind of half-smile. "Yeah, well…thanks for bringing him back."

"No problem," I called after her as she walked away. The second she and the baby vanished from sight, I blew out a very relieved sigh. "That could have gone horribly, _horribly_ wrong."

"Yeah, no shit," muttered Nathan. He turned to Kelly and sarcastically said, "Well look at you, usin' your powers, bein' all _superhero_!" to which Kelly responded to by giving him the finger. I grinned at the two of them. Crisis averted.

* * *

_"There's no need to argue,  
Parents just don't_ _understand."_  
**-Willow Smith, "Parents Just Don't Understand"**

* * *

**A/N- Hope y'all enjoyed Chapter 12! I thought I'd go for a bit of an add on to baby Finn's power, to see how it went, and I think it turned out alright. Still, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Review? Xx Gee xX**


	13. Slumber Party

**A/N- Aiiee! I've passed 2,000 views! I love you guys! Thanks of course, to Guest for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen- Slumber Party**

As I went to put away the rest of the paper scrapers and the buckets we'd put the paper in, I was so deep in thought about what had happened with the baby that I almost walked straight into Curtis, who was walking through the entrance hall. It was only when he put his hands on my shoulders to stop me that I looked up.

"Look out, Georgia!" he said, raising his eyebrows at me. "You're not in another one of them trances, are you?"

I shook my head. "Nah, just seriously freaked out. I nearly unintentionally adopted a small child. I think I deserve a little headspace!"

"Yeah, I guess you do."

I held up the one of the buckets. "Fancy giving me a hand? My arms are fucking killing me."

"Sure." Curtis took the buckets off me and we proceeded to the storage cabinet. As we drew closer, I heard the familiar _drone-drone-drone_ of Sally's voice, followed by the _mumble-mumble-mumble _of Simon. I held my arm out to stop Curtis, and gestured with my head through the glass pane of the door, which was open slightly.

Simon and Sally were deep in conversation, and it so obviously wasn't the kind of conversation you had with your probation worker.

"You've got-" I heard Sally say, and I saw her point to her cheek. "You've got dirt on your face." She stuck her hand out and gently cupped Simon's cheek, wiping the offending smudge away with her thumb, the way a girlfriend would to her boyfriend. No way. _Simon, you sly boy._

"I'll see you later," she said quietly, turning around and walking into the probation office.

"Oh. My. God," I said, emerging through the door and giving Simon a knowing grin.

"No way," said Curtis in an impressed tone, following me into the hall.

"What?" said Simon apprehensively.

"You and Sally? Boy, you work faaaast," I said with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?" Now Simon sounded even more worried.

"Dude!" I said obviously.

"We're talkin' about-" Curtis made an exaggerated imitation of Sally's caress.

Simon now looked positively panicked as he quickly came up to us and hastily said, "Don't tell the others! Don't tell Nathan!"

"We ain't gonna tell that prick anything!" said Curtis almost irritatedly. Then he looked towards the probation office before he grinned at Simon. "A fit older woman. Heavy." He clapped Simon on the shoulder before dumping the buckets he was still holding in the open storage locker.

"Typical male response," I said with a shake of my head. I smiled warmly at Simon and put a hand on his arm. "Good for you, Si. Didn't think you had it in you." I winked at him before I also went into the locker and placed the scrapers on one of the shelves.

"Georgia! Curtis!" Simon called to us. We both turned around to look at him. "Yeah?" I said.

"Thanks," he said gratefully.

* * *

As the day drew to a close, I could honestly say that I don't think things could have gotten much weirder. Today had been seriously strange, even by our standards. I mean, it wasn't every day that you almost abducted a toddler with relationship-influencing powers, was it? No, I believe is the answer to that question.

I reflected on this as I stood in the locker rooms, getting changed. Kelly, Alisha and Curtis had already left, I could hear Nathan assaulting the drinks machine just outside the door and Simon was also changing. As I wriggled my way back into a cute blue dress, Simon tapped me on the shoulder.

"Oi! Pervert! You know it's not good for you to watch girls getting changed," I tutted jokingly. "What's up?"

"You promise, don't you? Not to tell the others about me and Sally?" he said urgently.

I laughed. "Dude, chill the fuck out. I'm not going to tell the others, and neither is Curtis. Trust me, if he does, it's me he'll have to answer to!" Simon smiled at me, and I returned the smile without hesitation. It was nice that we'd returned to how our friendship had been before *cough* the unmentionable thing happened.

I picked up my back, swung my locker door shut and headed out into the entrance hall. As I came out of the locker room, I was faced with the sight of Nathan still trying to beat a can out of the drinks machine.

"Have you ever considered, I don't know, actually _buying _a drink?" I suggested.

"That entirely defeats the objective," he replied.

"What objective?!"

"This one," he said, taking a couple of steps backwards. I didn't have time to even ask what he was doing before he threw himself at the machine so violently I'm amazed its plastic casing didn't crack.

I had no idea how he did it, but he managed to get a can to fall out. The boy had a gift or something. He held the can up like a trophy, and I gave him slow and sarcastic applause. "You done? That's not your tea, is it?"

He held up his right hand, which was stuffed with food. "Starter, main course, dessert," he said, gesturing at the two packets of crisps and generic-brand chocolate bar. He then held up the can again. "And a nice refreshing beverage to wash it all down."

I snorted. "You've gotta be kidding me. If you keep eating all that shit you're gonna give yourself a heart attack. I bet the pizza we had the other night was the first real meal you've had since your mum chucked you out, isn't it?" Nathan nodded. "Those crisps and chocolate bars are a mixture for a heart attack. Come on, come back to mine. I'll cook you something again."

"What are you cookin' today then, Ms Nigella Lawson?"

"That's an excellent question. Probably something cheap and easy."

"Y'know people say you are what you eat, right?"

"Hilarious, Nathan. I'll make macaroni cheese. You're cool with pasta, right?"

Nathan nodded again, but then narrowed his eyes slyly. "Are you askin' me round for sex?"

"Oh, for fuck sake. Was I asking you round for sex the other night? No. Tonight's no different," I said exasperatedly, turning to leave, my dress's skirt flaring out behind me as I did so.

I heard the locker door open behind me, then Nathan's voice irritatingly saying, "She's cookin' me 'tea', man! I think I'm in there!", assumingly to Simon, followed by hurried footsteps and an arm around my shoulders.

"Personal space, Nathan," I said, stepping out of his reach. "I could really use some right now."

* * *

"Have you ever considered learning how to drive?" Nathan asked me twenty minutes later as he collapsed on my sofa. "Because if we're gonna make this a regular thing, it'd be great to not have to walk half a fuckin' mile to get here."

"Okay, A) Who says we're making this a regular thing? B) It only took twenty minutes to get here and C) I do know how do drive. I just think it's better for the environment for me to walk to the community centre," I replied.

"You've gotta be bullshittin' me. There's no way you care about the environment," he scoffed.

"No, I don't, but that is not the point. For all you know, I'm well into that hippy flower-power shit," I said, trying to sound serious, but instead I sounded like I was suppressing a massive laugh. Which, incidentally, I was. I kicked off my sandals and dumped them in the space between the wall and the sofa. I placed my phone on the coffee table, and Nathan immediately picked it up.

"You should really consider gettin' a proper password," he said, poking at the iPhone. "I mean, '1, 2, 3, 4'? Please."

"Alright, sorry. I wanted something easy to remember!" I said defensively, reaching into one of the overhead cupboards for a packet of pasta. I could hear the soft little padding sounds his finger made as they prodded at the screen.

"Who's this?" he asked suddenly. I turned to see what he was going on about, and saw him holding up my phone. I went over to look at the screen properly. Nathan had accessed my photos, and the image on-screen was of me and Charlie on his eighth birthday, back in February.

It had been a fancy dress party, and he was dressed as The Joker, in a purple suit with his light brown hair sprayed green, and I was Harley Quinn, my hair hidden under a blonde pigtails wig, my face chalk-white and lips bright red. Charlie was grinning a huge, teeth-baring smile at the camera, and I had crossed my eyes and stuck out my tongue. We was so happy. I abruptly felt like I was going to cry.

"That's my little brother," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Nathan said almost accusingly.

"Well, I do. He's called Charlie. I don't really like to talk about him. I haven't seen him since April. Mum and Dad…they don't like me to see him. They think I'll hurt him." I blinked hard, but I couldn't stop a couple of tears from escaping. I brushed them away quickly. "It's bullshit. I'd never hurt Charlie. He's my whole world. I love him so much. It breaks my heart to know that I won't see him in his school play, or watch him run at his sports day…or anything." The tears were falling thickly and freely now.

"Oh God. Fuck. Don't cry! Don't cry!" Nathan begged, jumping up from the sofa and looking at me almost anxiously. "I don't know how to deal with this emotions shit! Just…stop cryin'! It's…gonna be alright?" He voiced that last bit as a question rather than a statement.

"I'm sorry," I sniffed, rubbing under my eyes to remove the tears, but carefully avoiding my eye make-up. "Oh God. I always do this when I think about Charlie." I wiped away the few remaining tears, then sniffed. "Right, moving swiftly on from that. Can you get me the cheese out of the fridge?"

"Sure," he said, looking relieved that I'd stopped crying.

As I chopped the cheese up, I was more than aware of Nathan hanging over my shoulder watching me. "You know, this'll get done a lot quicker if you piss off and watch the TV." Nathan gave me an army-style salute and switched on the TV, settling down on the sofa. It took him literally thirty seconds to get bored with that before he was up on his feet again and going through all of my books.

"Holy shit. Have you actually read all of these?" he asked, pulling each of them out to look at the titles. I nodded. "_Hush, Hush_, _Fallen_, _Carrie_, _Pet_ _Semetary_, _Christine_, _Cujo_,_ Harry Potter_, _The Hunger Games_, _The Mortal Instruments_…_Fifty Shades of Grey_." He waggled his eyebrows at me. "Scorch, you dirty girl!"

"Word of advice: don't bother with it. It's one of the shittest books I've ever read," I said, mixing the cheese in with the milk and flour. "A terrible plotline, lame characters and totally unnecessary sex scenes."

"Aren't the sex scenes kinda the point of the book?"

"Yeah, true. The only reason I got it was to see what all the fuss was about." I continued to stir the sauce, the wooden spoon clunking against the side of the metal saucepan. Because there was now a kind of boring silence, other than the TV twittering on about the six o'clock news, I said, "You know, I think that today has been seriously fucked up, even looking back at all the _other_ fucked up shit we've been through."

"You're tellin' me. Babies should _not_ be havin' these bullshit powers when I still have _nothin_'!"

"If it's any consolation, from little I can remember, we'd make pretty amazing parents," I joked.

"Of course we would. Look at us," Nathan said, gesturing up and down his body, then he did the same to me. "Any kid we had would be fuckin' beautiful."

"Yeah. Too bad that to make a baby we'd have to have sex," I said in mock-regret. "And we both know _that's_ never gonna happen."

"I'm sure we've had this conversation before, Scorch. Never say never."

Desperate to get the conversation away from the topic of me and Nathan having sex, I quickly said, "Is it true what you said earlier?"

"Is what true?" he said, frowning slightly.

"What you said about your dad not being around."

Nathan pulled a slightly pained expression, and I could tell this _really _wasn't the kind of thing he liked to talk about. He was silent for a few seconds before he quietly said, "So what if it is?" I gave him a empathising look and he quickly said, "Moving on."

"Alright then…can you get a couple of bowls out of that cupboard?" I asked him, pointing at the cupboard under the sink.

He grabbed a couple of the pink china bowls with a noise of derisive disgust and handed them to me. "Is everythin' you own pink?"

"Pretty much," I replied, dividing the macaroni cheese between the two bowls and handing one to him.

As we sat down at my little white table, each of us with a bottle of cider in hand, he said, "So what about you then? What was all that about your parents not carin' about you?"

"What about it?" I said, moodily stabbing at the pasta in front of me. This was so not the way I wanted the conversation to turn.

"Well, you always hit me as the kinda girl whose parents like, suffocated you with love."

I decided I may as well tell him. "Oh, they did. From when I was a baby till I was about eleven, my parents treated me exactly the same as they did Lola and Charlie. But then, for some weird reason, they started treating me differently. Everything I did was wrong. They'd ask me to wash up, I'd do it, but it would be wrong. They'd ask me to hoover, I'd do it, it'd be wrong. They'd ask me to do my homework, I'd do it, it'd be the wrong fucking subject."

Nathan choked on his forkful of macaroni. "Are you bein' fuckin' serious?"

"Yep," I said grimly. "Even when I got three As in my GCSE English, Drama and RS, they still told me my C in Maths wasn't good enough. But you know what? I still pushed myself to do better. I gave up three nights a week to look after Charlie so Mum and Dad could go out with their friends. I tried to get along with Lola, I really, really did! Hell, I even tutored the bitch in English because the kid's so fucking illiterate she's barely scraping a D. And it still wasn't fucking good enough."

"You're shittin' me, right? There's no way you're bein' serious."

"That's the shitty thing. I'm being deadly serious. All of that was happening, and I was _still_ happy, because I had my friends, and I had Charlie. But because I desperate to get proper attention from Mum and Dad, so I started going out more at night and coming home like, three hours after my curfew totally pissed out of my skull. I started smoking as well, but still nothing. Then I hit my sister with that baseball bat, and they finally had the proper ammunition to kick me out. So there you go. Life story contracted into a five minute space."

"Fuckin' hell." Nathan sounded completely dumbfounded. "And I thought my mum was harsh sometimes."

"Yeah, well. Maybe I deserved it."

"Nobody deserves that," Nathan said in a voice that wasn't quite classed as benevolent, but it was the closest I'd ever heard him come to it. He cleared his throat and quickly said, "This is some pretty good food."

"What can I say? I'm a girl of many talents."

"Well I know singin' ain't one of them," he said. I kicked him in the shin underneath the table.

"So how's stuff going with your mum, anyway?" I asked him.

"Fine, fine. She asked me to move back in with her the other week," he replied.

"Really? And you said _no_? What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Why the bloody hell would you stay at the community centre?!"

"I'm twenty-two, man. I'm way too old to be livin' with my mum. Do you know how annoyin' it is to bring a girl home and your mum's there?"

"Not from experience, no."

"I was speakin' hypothetically. I mean, in all fairness to me mum, I didn't go home because she seems happier without me there ruinin' all her relationships. Thinkin' about it, I think that was the first real thing I've done for someone without wantin' somethin' back."

"Congratulations," I said. "You know what would be awesome? If you did that more often."

"Let's be realistic here, Scorch." Nathan shovelled another load of macaroni into his already-full mouth. "Seriously, this stuff is fuckin' amazin'."

"You're not gonna be able to flatter your way into my knickers, Nathan," I said bluntly.

"Worth a shot. But seriously," he said, finishing off his last forkful. "We're gonna have to start makin' this a regular thing, like I said earlier."

I shrugged. "Sure, why not? It'll be nice to have the company." He grinned at me, and I grinned back, our eyes locked on each other. We held each other's gaze for longer than was needed, and when we realised what was happening, our eye contact broke faster than someone stepping on thin ice.

I coughed self-consciously, then stood up. "Help me clean up, can you?"

Once I'd finished washing up and Nathan had helped me dry up and put the stuff away, I chucked him another bottle of cider, grabbed one for myself and we sat down on the sofa.

"Not bein' nosy or nothin', but how the fuck did you manage to afford this place?" Nathan asked.

"The one perk of my parents making me destitute. They said if I found a house that was relatively cheap, they'd pay my rent for me. I got lucky on that one." I leaned forward and switched on my PlayStation 3, grabbing one of the controllers. I handed it to Nathan. "Here."

"Why are you givin' me this?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"The other week, you told me you've never played _Arkham Asylum_. I plan on straightening that out."

"Nerd!" Nathan said, in that mock-coughing way people do to take the piss.

"And proud," I said haughtily. "But you'll be begging for my 'nerd' help when you can't get any further than the opening credits."

Nathan scoffed. "Please. I am the fuckin' master of video games. Watch and learn, Scorch."

* * *

However, I think it goes without saying that Nathan was, to put it delicately, totally shit. As I had predicted, the second the walkthrough of the _Arkham Asylum_ opening credits finished, he was begging me for my help, and the next few hours were filled with me yelling:

"Go left!"

"I said left, you twat, not right!"

"Grapple up! Up! For fuck sake, _up_!"

"Don't go that way, it's a dead end."

"What did I say? I said it was a dead end!"

"Don't punch the Titan-infected one! Batarang him! _Batarang him_!"

All of which were answered with Nathan's irritated shouts of:

"This way?"

"I thought that fuckin' _was_ left!"

"What button's grapple?!"

"There's no way you remember that's a dead end. You're probably wrong."

"How was I supposed to know there was gonna be a load of dickheads with guns at the end of it?!"

"Which button's the Batarang? Oh, shit! I died."

At just gone eleven, I stood up with a sigh and switched off the PlayStation mid-game. Nathan's failure was just getting too much for me to watch. As the TV went black, I was met with his pained cry of, "I was gettin' good at that! And I didn't save!"

"Oh breathe. It's fine," I said with a laugh. "It saves automatically. Besides, you were doing so shit it was making my eyes bleed to watch you. My God, now I know why my mate Emma always got so irritated whenever I fucked up the first time I played it."

"Oh come on! I didn't do too bad!" he protested. "Let's see how well you do!" So I turned the PlayStation back _on_, loaded up the game and started play. Suffice to say, I reached the same place he had gotten to in an hour, rather than Nathan's three.

"Satisfied now? I am the reigning queen of computer games," I said, bowing.

"I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but you're actually better than me," he admitted. "Don't tell anyone I told you that! And I can see why you love that Harley so much. She is _fit_."

"Okay, one- I like her personality, not the way she looks. And two- you just said you thought a video game character was hot." Nathan just kind of smirked. "Oh God, that's kind of wrong. Have you not had sex in so long that you're resorting to having to sexually think about video game characters?!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you're refusin' to help me out on that 'no sex' thing. I have asked you."

"Oh sweetie. Keep perving on those animated women," I said, standing up and yawning. "I'm going to bed. You can stay on the sofa again, if you want."

"What, you don't wanna stay with me again?" he smirked.

"No," I said, going into my bedroom to grab the spare duvet and pillow. I threw them at him and gave him a sarcastically sweet smile. "Goodnight, Nathan."

* * *

_Beep_._ Beep_._ Beep_. Urrgghh, that _fucking_ alarm clock! I followed my usual routine of throwing my arm out from under the covers and whacking at the clock a few times until my fist came into contact with the snooze button.

I sat up and rubbed at my eyes, and my hands came away smeared black with yesterday's eye make-up. I rolled my way out of bed and went to look in the mirror.

Ew. I always looked such a state in the morning- hair looking like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, huge panda eyes and bright red cheeks. Thank God nobody ever saw me properly in the morning. Well, aside from Nathan. I stretched and stuck my feet into my worn SpongeBob slippers, then padded out to the living room.

Unsurprisingly, Nathan was still fast asleep, sprawled over my pink sofa the same style cats slept. I stood there watching him sleep for a few minutes. He looked so different. All the cockiness was gone from his face, and instead he looked calm, peaceful. His eyelashes were quite long, brushing the tops of his cheeks. He looked quite cute.

I kicked the sofa a couple of times. "Nathan. Naaathaaan." I kicked the sofa harder, so that it knocked back into the wall, jolting him awake. "Wakey-wakey."

"Mornin'," he muttered, burying his head back into the pillow. I laughed and bent over him, forcing him to look at me.

"Come on, get up. We've got just under an hour and a half to be at the community centre."

He sat up, stretching, then he focussed on me properly. I could see his eyes taking in my pink pyjama vest and little white shorts, his eyes lingering on the vest. It was last year's, making it slightly too tight. "Nice pyjamas."

"Oh, go take a shower," I said, trying to sound disgusted, but it came out more as a strangled giggle. What the fuck? I pointed him to the bathroom, even though he already knew where it was. He stood up and sauntered off. "Do you want any breakfast?" I asked after him.

"Depends on what you're makin'."

"Bacon sandwiches good enough for you?"

"You have to ask?" he said with a cocky grin, shutting the bathroom door. I shook my head as I grabbed the bacon out of the fridge and dumped it into a frying pan.

As the bacon sizzled away in the pan, I could hear the shower battering away against the glass shower door. God, were the walls really that thin? Nathan was infuriatingly quick today, finishing his shower in ten minutes, as opposed to the twenty he'd spent in there the other day when we were late. He came out of the bathroom just as I was dumping his sandwich on the table.

"Good timing," I said, putting a bottle of ketchup on the table. Nathan sat down and finished his sandwich in practically thirty seconds. "Jesus Christ. Hungry?"

"Could ya tell?" he said sarcastically with a grin. His face was still pink from his shower, and I could smell that he'd used my aloe vera shampoo. His damp hair was sticking to his forehead and beginning to wave its way back into the curls I found so strangely attractive.

Once I'd finished my own sandwich, I also went for a quick shower, then dressed in a pair of lilac shorts and a white shirt that knotted at the navel. I loved summer- it gave me an excuse to dress exactly how I wanted. I put on a pair of white sandals and went back to the living room, where Nathan had started up my PlayStation again and was back on _Arkham Asylum_.

"We need to go," I said, pulling out the plug because I couldn't be bothered to turn it off properly.

"Alright," Nathan grumbled, apparently irritated at the fact I'd cut him off mid-game.

"You can play that the next time you come round," I teased him, pushing him up the hallway and out the front door.

We left slightly early, meaning we were the first to arrive at the community centre. It was eerily quiet. As Nathan went to beat a packet of crisps out of the vending machine in the main hall, I went to get changed. As I walked through the entrance hall, my phone fell out of my pocket. As I went to get it, I accidentally kicked it quite hard, sending it skittering along the tiled floor. It ended up near the back door of the entrance hall.

As I picked the phone up, I noticed something red on the door handle, standing out easily against the silver metal. It was small, just a little smear the same width as a strand of hair, but it was obvious. What was it? I wiped it off with my finger and tentatively sniffed it. I nearly gagged as I smelt that familiar rust-and-salt smell. Holy shit. It was blood.

* * *

_"__This time,  
__Don't need another perfect line,  
__Don't care if critics ever jump in line,  
__I'm gonna give all my secrets_ away."  
**-OneRepublic, "Secrets"**

* * *

**A/N- Sorry this is a bit of a short chapter. I hope you liked it anyway! Don't suppose you guys wanna review? You know they give me the fuel to keep writing! Xx Gee xX**


	14. Definition Of Perfection

**A/N- I love you guys. So much. God, I'm getting emotional. Big thanks to Gwenlynn and Lizzie for reviewing! (By the way, Lizzie, your review was so amazing I nearly cried with happiness. I'm so glad you like my story!)**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen- Definition Of Perfection**

A weekend had passed since I had found the smear of blood on the door handle, and since nothing else had turned up, I disregarded it as the remains of a paper cut or something.

The only weird thing happening at the minute was the fact that Sally the probation worker was seriously late today. It was really unlike her to just not turn up. She'd struck me as the kind of person who though promptness was the be-all and end-all of everything.

The six of us were relaxing on one of the benches down by the lake, waiting for her to show up. Our attention was focussed on a group of people around our age, who were gathered up on one of the grassy hills that lead down to the bank.

They were all dressed in the kind of style that made me- literally- weep for humanity. The girls were all wearing either baggy office-like trousers, capris or knee-length skirts (part of my soul died as I took in the various styles of grandma skirts), and they were all wearing baggy blouses, chunky knit jumpers or cardigans.

And I don't mean cute little black cropped cardigans; I'm talking the kind that eighty-five-year-old virgins wear. The boys were all in chino-style trousers that you wore for golfing, and either polo shirts or grandad jumpers. It was making my eyes haemorrhage to look at them. Not just bleed, _haemorrhage_.

One of the girls was telling the rest of the cult (I was certain that's what it was. Nobody sane dressed like that. EVER.) about her various past sexual exploits and the fact she called her mother a 'fat bitch'. She finished her oh-so inspiring speech with, "But I'm not like that anymore. I'm a good person."

Good God, it was invasion of the Jesus Freaks. All of them seemed to have some form of crucifix about their person, and they each had a small pink and black ribbon attached to them as well. I'm not against Christians or anything, I swear. But there's something about them that just seems off to me…it's probably the fact they believe in God and I really _don't_.

"This is seriously wrong," I said to the others, taking a drag on my cigarette.

"She's right. That," said Nathan, sounding nauseated, gesturing at the group with his own cigarette. "That ain't normal."

"Who the fuck are they?" I asked.

"She went to my school," replied Alisha. "This one time, she was doing this boy I know in the back of her dad's car, yeah? She gets off him and _sits_ on the gearstick. She's on there for like twenty minutes, literally-" She seized hold of the back of the bench and started thrusting forward, making some really weird groaning noises. We all watched her in a mixture of disgust and fascination, unable to avert our eyes.

When Alisha had finished her somewhat disturbing exhibition, Nathan said, "Try doin' that in your drivin' test, you are _definitely _gettin' a fail. Or a pass," he tacked on as a kind of afterthought. "And maybe some kind of internal injury."

"_Maybe_ some kind of internal injury?!" I repeated. "That sounded like the kind of thing that rips your intestines out when you're done."

"Urgh," said Kelly, pulling an expression of disgust. We looked back at the group. A girl of about twenty-ish with hair the exact same colour and style as me (other than the fact I didn't have hair that made my fringe look like it was clipped on) was talking to them.

"Ya know, it's the same wiv the girls on my estate. No one's even gettin' _pregnant_ anymore!" Kelly looked at Simon, who was standing slightly away from us, looking a lot more reticent than usual. "Wot about your friends?"

"I believe that's generally referred to as a 'paedophile ring'," interjected Nathan cruelly.

"I'm not a paedophile," Simon mumbled insistently.

"Yeah? You'd screw your own sister for a slice of cheese!" Nathan continued his tirade.

"I don't even like cheese," Simon muttered feebly.

"That makes it even worse, you sick bastard!" Nathan exclaimed, earning him a smack upside the head from me. "Ow!"

"Maybe she's done sitting on her dad's gearstick," Curtis put in. "Just a thought."

"Anyone hearing that out of context would be seriously disturbed," I said. "I mean, 'gearstick' could mean _anything_."

"Pervert," said Nathan with a grin, shoving me off the bench. I landed on the concrete with a thud. There was going to be a very purple bruise on my arse tomorrow.

"Thanks a lot, dickhead," I snapped, standing up and wiping dust off of my jumpsuit.

As I wriggled my way back into my space on the bench between Nathan and Alisha, Kelly piped up, "It's not just 'er though, is it?" and nodded her head in the direction of the community centre. We turned to look, and saw a boy and a girl dressed the same as the group coming down the outdoor stairs.

"Oh God, there's more of them!" I said quietly, putting my forehead forward on to the back of the bench.

"I know him!" Curtis said incredulously.

Nathan beckoned them over with a call of, "Oi, you!" As they came closer, he asked them, "Why are you all dressed like retards?"

I quickly turned my laughter into a hacking cough that earned me a few strange looks from the others. The boy and girl didn't seem offended by Nathan's subtly (not) hidden insult. Instead, the boy gave him a good-hearted smile and answered, "There's a meeting in the community centre tonight. You should come along and find out. All of you."

"Right, cool. See you there, buddy," Nathan said in a derisively chipper tone. As they walked away, the boy turned back and gave us a ridiculously cheerful thumbs-up sign.

"Yeah, I'll come along," I said sarcastically. "The day I decide to burn all my miniskirts and start wearing sensible underwear."

"And God help us guys the day you do," Nathan said mockingly. I hit him on the head again, but only half-heartedly.

"He used to be a right headcase!" said Curtis disbelievingly, forcing us back to the strangeness at hand. "This is weird…"

Back at the cult, the brown-haired leader was twittering on about how 'they need our help' and about how 'things need to change'. _Bitch, I don't need no one's help_, I thought.

All of her little followers started cheering and making noises of agreement. Fuck me, it was like watching a group of small children at a party or something. They all looked so…brainless. I wondered if the town was being Punk'd. I was half-expecting Ashton Kutcher to pop out.

"Okay, this is getting waaay too Christian for my liking," I said suddenly. "Can we go back inside? I can feel my Atheist-ism practically seeping out of me."

* * *

We gathered in the main hall, lazing around. It was quiet. The only noises were our breathing, Alisha's gum smacking and the _tap-tap-thud-thud_ of a football Nathan was kicking around. We waited half an hour, but Sally still hadn't shown up.

"Where the fuck is Sally?" I demanded, like anyone actually knew.

"She's never late," said Kelly.

"I think she's gone on holiday," said Simon quietly. I looked closer at him. He looked seriously defeated, even for him. His voice had a broken, beaten-down quality to it, like he was suffering from critical depression.

I was about to ask him if he was alright, but Curtis cut in with, "Did she tell you that?"

"She said she was going to Greece," he replied in that same crushed voice.

"Nah. They'd've sent someone to cover her," Curtis insisted.

"We should phone probation headquarters and get them to send someone down here _now_, to supervise us!" Nathan said in a whiny tone, before continuing to kick the football around.

"Yeah, good call," I said sarcastically. "Because a free day isn't exactly what we could do with." He gave me a stupid little grin and kicked the football at me. I caught it and threw it back at his head- hard.

"Jesus, Scorch!" he cried out in pain. As I laughed at his look of pain, I noticed Alisha give Curtis one of her seductive looks and stand up. She quickly left the room, followed by an overly-eager-looking Curtis.

Nathan suddenly shot the football at Simon, and it missed hitting Simon full in the face by literally three inches. Oh, for God's sake. Nathan was now moving into that level of boredom when he decided to start tormenting people.

However, instead of just taking it like he usually did, Simon cracked. He seized one of the boxes that were stacked by the wall and hurled it at Nathan. It hit him and the contents of the box exploded- little pink and black ribbons scattered all over the floor.

Simon was glaring at Nathan like he was seriously considering ripping Nathan's head off. Nathan just grinned obnoxiously at him and said, "Well this is intense."

Simon gave him a scowl that would have had most decent men running for cover, and stormed furiously from the hall, practically ripping the door off its hinges when he opened it. I was getting seriously worried. This was so not like him.

However, before Simon could get an actual decent exit, Nathan retrieved the football and aimed it at the door.

"For fuck sake, Nathan, just leave it!" I pleaded him, but he totally ignored me, and sent the ball flying into the glass door, where it hit with a glass-shivering crash. Simon glared through the glass at him and stomped off. Kelly produced a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and informed us she was going for a fag and to get changed.

I shook my head angrily at Nathan. "You're a complete bell-end. You're aware of that, right?"

"Oh come on, Scorch, it was just a joke," he said, defiantly folding his arms. I glared at him and marched out of the room, ignoring him calling my name behind me.

Simon and Kelly were already getting changed in the locker room when I arrived. Kelly was searching for something in the top shelf of her locker, and Simon was looking through his phone. I changed quickly, wanting to get out of my jumpsuit as quick as possible.

Once I had changed, I went up to Simon, put my hand on his arm comfortingly and said, "Don't listen to anything Nathan says, Simon. He's a twat."

"Yeah, just ignore 'im," added Kelly. "'E's a dick. 'E doesn't care wot anyone says to 'im, 'e finks it's the same wiv everyone."

"But it's not though, is it?" Simon said seriously. "Me and you. We're not like that." He was clearly directing this at Kelly, because he looked intently at me and asked, "How do you do it? Nothing anyone says hurts you, either. You just take it in your stride. How?"

"That's easy. I'm missing the part of my soul that makes me feel bad," I deadpanned. Then I grinned. "No, I'm kidding. I don't know. I spent most of middle school and part of high school caring about what everyone thought of me. Then in Year Eleven I just thought 'fuck it', stopped caring and boom." I threw my hands up in the air. "The stunningly beautiful train wreck you see in front of you is the result. Again, kidding about the stunningly beautiful part." Simon still looked extremely grave, so I sighed and said, "He thinks it's a joke. You know what a knob he is."

"But I don't think it's very funny," Simon insisted.

"Look, I'll talk to him, yeah? He might listen to me. I'll tell him to back the fuck off and leave you alone," I said. _For like the hundredth time_, I thought. I shut my locker and smiled at him, turning to go.

As I went to walk out the door, I heard Kelly say, "What are ya talkin' about?" followed by Simon quietly saying, "Nothing." If that didn't scream SUSPICIOUS, I didn't know what did.

* * *

I started to believe Simon's story that Sally had buggered off to Greece, because she was a no-show again the next day. Not that anyone appeared surprised by this, as when I arrived, none of the others had bothered to actually get changed.

Kelly, Simon and Curtis were having wheelchair races up and down the entrance hall, Alisha was late and Nathan was on the phone in the probation office. I could see him through the office window as I came in through the main doors.

I opened the office door and saw that he was calling a sex line that was advertised in the magazine he was holding. As I walked in, he was asking the woman on the other end of the line if she had had any training, then claiming he was 'just makin' conversation'.

I hopped up on to the desk in front of him, my skirt flaring out around me on the wood, and crossed my legs over his lap, ignoring the way he looked at my bare skin. A moment after this, the door swung open again and some dude who was vaguely familiar looked in.

"I'm looking for Sally," he said. When he spoke, I sucked in a breath. Oh shit. He was the cop who'd had to restrain me in the park back in April. Fuck! He was with the police!

Nathan quickly hung up the phone and said, "Who?" I had to fight the urge to kick him in the face. If he didn't know who Sally was by now, then there were serious problems with his mental faculties. Although, to be fair, there probably was.

"She's the probation worker," the cop elucidated.

"Oh. Haven't seen her man," Nathan said unhelpfully. He grabbed a notepad and pen off the desk. "Can I take a message?"

"You're alright," said the cop.

"Okay," said Nathan indifferently, and the cop shut the door again.

"_Fuck me_," I breathed.

"Finally. Took your time, didn't you, Scorch?" Nathan said. "I mean, I've always wanted to have a shag on a desk."

"What?! No, I didn't mean it literally, you prick!" I exclaimed, lightly kicking him in the stomach. "That guy's a cop!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I wonder why he wanted Sally." I craned my head to look through the window to see if he was still there, but he was gone. Instead, I saw something that nearly made me fall off the desk.

Alisha walked past the probation office. At least…I thought it was Alisha. It sort of looked like Alisha. But this Alisha was scrubbed of any make-up, had her hair pulled back into a bun and was dressed in some God awful tabard-style fawn-coloured dress that fell just below her knees.

"You see that too, right?" I hissed to Nathan, who looked so shocked that he could only nod. Both of us burst out of the probation office, accidentally making the door slam. Alisha turned to look at where the noise was coming from. When she saw me and Nathan she smiled graciously at us and merrily called, "Good morning!"

I nearly fucking passed out. Since when did Alisha _ever _say 'good morning'?! Hell, when was Alisha ever that cheerful?! That was when I saw the pink and black ribbon pinned to her dress' lapel. It was the same ribbon all the Christian Cult had been wearing the day before.

* * *

As per usual, Nathan didn't seem worried about Alisha at all, and dragged me outside for a cigarette. Well, to be more precise, a joint. I won't lie. Although I did smoke, I'd never smoked cannabis in my life. The munchies and paranoia that apparently possibly came with it just didn't appeal to me. Still, never say never, I supposed.

Both of us lounged back on one of the benches back down by the lake bank. Neither of us talked much, we were both plugged into our iPods. As we rolled our cigarettes, Ms Virtue walked past, carrying a white box. As she passed our bench, she stopped walking.

Over the top of my music, I could vaguely make out the words she was saying. "Excuse me. Did you know using marijuana can cause epilepsy and mental illness?" but because I really didn't give a shit, I just turned my music up to drown her out completely. It appeared Nathan couldn't hear her at all, because he totally blanked her as well.

I could hear the faint fuzzing of her voice still, and I turned around to face her, pulling one headphone out. Nathan did the same. She had a look of what looked like accomplishment on her face…which abruptly turned to a look of venomous shock as Nathan and I both stuck the joints in our mouths and lit them.

We both stood up to go back into the community centre, and as we passed her Nathan sarcastically said, "Nice cardigan." to which I responded with a bitchy giggle.

* * *

I don't know how, but when we got back to the community centre Kelly and I both ended up going into the men's toilets with Simon, Curtis and Nathan, as it was apparently the best place for not being overheard.

The second we had locked the door behind us, Nathan went straight over to the urinal, unzipped his fly and casually started taking a piss.

"Jesus Christ, Nathan!" I shrieked, frantically slapping my hands over my eyes. I whirled around to face the other wall, and Kelly did the same. "You know what would be really great? If you gave us a thirty second warning before you just start dropping your trousers!"

"Oh come on Scorch," he called over his shoulder. "We both know you're gonna see it eventually. May as well get it out of the way."

"Fuck off," I said. I turned the conversation back to the Alisha problem. "You know what all this is, don't you? It's all them righteousness-lovers from yesterday. They've done something to her. She's even wearing their little logo on her dress. Coincidence? I think not."

"She's right," Curtis said. "Alisha's saying all this weird stuff about sex and that. She says she's saving herself until she's ready to make a 'proper commitment'."

"It's a sad day for all of us when a bird like that decides to pull up her knickers," said Nathan almost sympathetically.

"You realise that's my girlfriend you're talking about?" Curtis said dangerously.

"And I feel your pain," said Nathan.

"Wash your hands before you touch me!" snapped Curtis.

"Oh for God's sake, are you done taking a piss yet!?" I asked exasperatedly.

"The beast is back in his cage," Nathan replied melodramatically. Kelly and I both turned back around to face the boys. "He is sleeping. Shh."

"Wow. Exaggerated much?" I said mockingly. "I bet that thing's the size of a Tic Tac."

"Well if you'd've taken me up on this morning's offer, you'd know, wouldn't you?" he shot back, equally as mocking.

"Georgia's right. It's that lot we saw yesterday!" exclaimed Curtis, cutting me off before I had a chance to reply to Nathan. "She's dressing like that! They did something to her!"

"What, like brainwashin' or somefin'?" said Kelly.

"Like in _Batman_ when the Mad Hatter puts his playing cards on you. You're automatically brainwashed by him," I said absent-mindedly.

Only Simon looked like he knew what I was talking about, but even he shook his head in disagreement. Instead, he said, "It's the storm."

"How do you know that?" demanded Nathan. "You don't know that!"

"When weird stuff happens it's _always_ the storm," Simon retorted. "Haven't you worked that out yet?"

"He's got a point," said Curtis.

Nathan didn't bother replying to him. He was staring at Simon with an expression of appraising shock. "Did you just suddenly grow a set of balls?"

Simon pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on and stood closer to Nathan. I'd like to say they were practically nose-to-nose, but since Simon was about a head shorter than Nathan, it was more like nose-to-chest. "I've always had a set of balls! You've just never seen them!" Seriously, what the fuck was up with Simon? When did he ever confront Nathan? Well, other than earlier when he'd thrown that box at him? Was it a man-period? Did they get those? Either way, Simon was obviously seriously pissed off at the world.

Nathan clearly didn't sense that anything was off as he obnoxiously snorted, "That is about the gayest thing I've ever heard!"

"Shut op! We need ta find out wot's goin' on wiv 'er!" Kelly shouted before it could turn into some kind of Simon vs. Nathan showdown.

"Yeah, she's right," I said. "So…who's got a plan?"

* * *

Three hours later, it became extremely evident that _none of us_ had a plan of any shape or form. The only thing that came out of our little strategy meeting was the fact that all of us were showing the beginnings of a mental breakdown (specifically Simon) from the stress and weirdness of it all. Eventually, we had to give up and decided we'd properly work something out the next day.

As we dispersed home, I decided to stop by the local Domino's Pizza place to grab a pepperoni pizza. I'd opted to make that night the time to talk to Nathan about Simon, and I figured he'd be much more likely to listen to me if I brought him something that interested him.

When I arrived back at the community centre, I didn't bother checking if the doors were locked. I just went round the back. Once I was in the main hall, I could see Nathan up on his little platform thingy. He was making his bed and humming to himself.

"Oi! Nathan!" I called from the foot of the stairs with a little whistle.

His head turned sharply to look at me, and I could literally see him processing the cardboard box in my hands. "Is that pizza?"

I nodded, grinning at him. "You gonna invite me up or what?"

A couple of minutes later, I was sitting on Nathan's mattress with my back leaning against the blue metal railings. Nathan was sprawled out on his side next to me, each of us stuffing pizza into our mouths.

"So listen. Why do you keep giving Simon such a hard time?" I asked through a slightly full mouth. Like I've said before, ladylike I am not.

"Aw, come on Scorch. I'm just dickin' around with him," he replied, chucking his pizza crust back into the box.

"Yeah, well you can probably tell it's not just dicking around to him. It's obvious there's stuff going on with him," I pointed out. "So just back off and leave him alone, yeah?"

Nathan widened his eyes and innocently said, "I know we've had this conversation before, Scorch, but are you _sure_ you don't love him?" I kicked him in the arm, the clunky sole of my wedge heels connecting with a thud.

"Ow!" he yelped. "Jesus Christ, touchy, I'll leave your boyfriend alone!"

"He's not my boyfriend!" I practically yelled. Nathan just laughed at me. I shifted in my seat slightly, as I'd been sitting still so long my butt was starting to go slightly numb. However, as I budged into my new position, I could feel that I was sitting on something. I stuck my hand underneath the blanket and pulled out the offending item.

"Is this a sock? Urgh! It's crusty!" I cried, flicking the sock at him.

Nathan recoiled away from the sock and laughed. "Don't put it on my pizza!"

"Why the fuck do you sleep with a crusty sock in your bed?" I demanded.

Nathan tried to keep a straight face, but instead lapsed into an evil-looking smirk. "Okay, yes. It's my wank sock."

I hastily dropped the piece of pizza I'd been about to take a bite of. "You have got to be fucking kidding me. Urgh, no. That is so wrong." I started frantically wiping my hands on my skirt to remove the traces of God knows what was lingering on my skin. Nathan just laughed at me. "Why don't you use a bit of tissue to clean up?! You know, like a normal person?!"

"That requires plannin', man. Who's that organised?" was Nathan's terrible defense.

"Er, anyone and everyone?! Seriously, why would you use a fucking _sock_?!" I sounded slightly hysterical, but the fact was that I was severely disgusted right now.

"Think about it. Look, you've just knocked one out, right? You're lyin' there, you're feelin' cheap and deflated. There's a pool of rapidly cooling spunk on your stomach, you're looking around for something to mop up with. Oh, hello, what's this? It's a sock. Job done. Thank you."

"That's the one thing you've never considered could be your power," I mocked. "Wanking."

"I am _very_ good at it," he agreed.

"In all serious though, have you actually got any clue what it could be yet?"

"I give up. I obviously haven't got one. It's bullshit. Where's the logic?"

I shrugged. "It's not like you're really missing out on a lot. Sure, mine's pretty cool." I waved my hand in the air. "But it sucks when I get angry and I end up fucking burning a hole in my bed sheets. Yes, that has happened."

"You know why it is though. It's because you can't improve on perfection." Nathan flexed his arm, and I raised an eyebrow, leaning forward to touch what I already knew would be a hilarious lack of muscle. However, he jerked his arm away and said seductively, "Look, but don't touch."

I snorted. "I'm sorry, but of the two people in this room, only one of us is the definition of perfection, and we both know it's not you."

"Just because you're fit doesn't mean you're perfect," said Nathan.

"Wow, cheers for that," I said, raising my eyebrow again.

"No, I didn't mean it like that."

"You are seriously shit at stuff like this. How the fuck do you ever get laid?" I asked him, actually kind of curious.

He deliberated for a few moments before he answered, "I get girls really, really drunk."

"Typical boy," I tutted.

"So. D'you wanna steal some booze?" he suggested. Whoever said romance is dead clearly never encountered an awkward Nathan Young.

It was like that shitty little devil-and-angel-on-shoulder thing. One part of me was shrieking, _You are a twat. If you do this, you may as well sign away what little dignity you have left_. However, the other side (obviously the devil) was slyly saying, _Go on, do it. It'll be fun. And anyway, when was the last time you actually had a proper drink?_

I shook my head a bit, then nodded, a stupid grin on my face. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

_"Pretty, pretty please,  
Don't you ever, ever feel,  
That you're nothing,  
You're fucking_ perfect."  
**-P!nk, "Fuckin' Perfect"**

* * *

**A/N- Shit'll start hitting the fan next chapter! This is one of the first proper hints at Nathan's feelings towards Georgia. I hope you liked it, and I'd love you guys to review. You're amazing, love you all! Xx Gee xX**


	15. You'll Go Out In Style

**A/N- It's all kicking off now! The usual amazing thanks to Lizzie and ****marnthemiz for their reviews! Love you guys!**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen- You'll Go Out In Style**

Nathan and I headed down the stairs and made our way to the kitchen. However, when we discovered the kitchen was under total lock and key, Nathan pointed out that there was a set of keys in the probation office.

"I should really have my own keys cut for the bar," he said, bending down to look in one of the desk drawers.

"Yeah. That way, we wouldn't have to be rummaging around in drawers that may only possibly contain the keys," I said.

The was a sudden click-and-bang sound of a door opening. Nathan reached over to me and quickly wrapped his arm around my waist to yank me down closer to him behind the desk. We kept the top of our heads poking over the top of the desk to see what was going on.

It was that Virtue lot. They were wrestling a load of people with bags over their heads into the main hall.

"Is it just me," whispered Nathan, his arm still around my waist. "Or does this look really suspicious?"

I nodded, especially when I saw Little Miss Virtue walk by with Alisha, something cupped in each of their outstretched hands. "Holy motherfucker."

The other Virtuers forced the hostages to their knees and ripped the bags off their heads. One of them was Curtis. To stop myself crying out in shock, I had to bite my tongue, hard, accidentally drawing blood.

I hissed, "It's her! It's Fringy! She's doing this to them! Would it be classed as blasphemy if I went out there and kicked that Virtue bitch in the cunt?" I made my way to the door, but before I could open it Nathan grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me back, whispering, "No! There's too many of 'em! And I'm not every good at fightin'! I never have been!" I looked at the way his hand was clutching mine, and I nearly weakened.

Then I shook my head. "Nathan, you're talking to the girl who has gotten into so many fights that she's stopped bruising. I'll be fine." I went to open the door again, but Nathan's grip on my hand tightened.

"I know. But somehow I don't think even you can take on about ten Jesus freaks and win," he whispered, and I finally gave in and crouched back behind the desk with a mutter of, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"Now really isn't the time for _Star Wars_ quotes," Nathan hissed. We both turned back to the disturbing scene through the glass in time for us to witness Curtis stand up with a ridiculous grin on his face. Ms Virtue pinned something to his cardigan, and he gave her a hug.

"Did she just…" I trailed off.

"…virginize him?" finished Nathan.

"Fucking hell," I whispered. "This is trés, trés bad."

"You're tellin' me," muttered Nathan.

"She put one of them ribbons on him!" I pointed out. "Look at them! They're all wearing them, like I said!"

"You mean one of these?" asked Nathan, producing a fistful from an open cardboard box on the desk. I looked around the office. There were tons of the boxes, each one stamped with a Virtue logo. It looked like there was enough for everyone in town.

* * *

Nathan stayed round mine again that night because, and I quote, 'there is no fuckin' way I'm stayin' at the community centre tonight with all them Virtue virgins runnin' around'. So, being the complete pushover I was, I'd given him the sofa for the night.

While Nathan had basically fallen asleep the second he'd laid down on the sofa, I stayed up a few hours longer, researching the supposed Virtue group online. It was a fairly new thing, headed by Fringy, or 'Rachel', as the website called her. Their aim was to teach teenagers about the good in life, and to stop the 'excessive sinful binge drinking and underage sex'. Rachel With The Fringe was actually quoted as saying she wanted to make sluts extinct. God, they made me sick.

I shut down my laptop, both seething and terrified. I didn't want to become part of the God Squad. I honest to God (ha, that was ironic) would rather kill myself. I was surprisingly happy with the emotional car crash that was my life. Sure, I poisoned my bloodstream with alcohol and cigarettes, but hey. It wasn't like I was sticking coke up my nose every day.

The next morning I was up at six o'clock. As if to show the Virtuers exactly what a slut was, I dressed in my shortest black shorts, which literally just covered my bum, fishnet tights, a red camisole with a plunging neckline and red stilettos. However, I did stick a pair of flat biker boots in my bag for when it came down to the inevitable rescue mission.

I left Nathan asleep on the sofa while I boiled the kettle for a drink. I figured we all needed as much energy as we could possibly get, hence why I was about to pour six cups of coffee down my throat.

However, the fully-energised-Nathan theory went straight out the window when I picked up a mug and accidentally dropped it because I was shaking so much. It hit the floor with an extremely loud crash.

"Don't shoot!" Nathan shouted stupidly, scrambling into a sitting position. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at me. When he saw what I was wearing, he cracked an even stupider grin. "Why are you dressed like a prostitute?"

I flipped him off and said, "I'm proving a point to those Virtue twats." I bent down to gather up the shards of turquoise china decorating my floorboards.

"What point? That you walk better in stilettos than you do in flat shoes?" He stood up and stretched.

"Funny," I said sourly, dumping the mug remains in the bin. "No, you prick. Those Virtue virgins are always going on about how girls look like sluts if they wear anything that comes above the knee or shows the fact they have boobs."

"So you're proving what? That nerds like you can still be sluts?"

"No, you prick," I said for a second time. "I'm proving that it's not the way you dress, it's how you behave that really defines you."

"You realise goin' anywhere near those freaks dressed like that is gonna make you their number one target, right?"

I grinned mischievously. "I'm counting on it. It might be the only way we'll even manage to get closer to Curtis and Alisha to save them."

"No way. Too dangerous," Nathan said, his head wedged in the fridge, looking for something to eat. "I say we get Weird Kid to sort this out. He's good with all the tactical shit."

"Worried about me, are you, Nathan?" I teased. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

* * *

As we headed to the community centre, the two of us extensively avoided anyone we saw wearing either cardigans or argyle-knit jumpers. By the time we were halfway there, I'd heard the words 'you should come to one of our meetings' so many times that I was ready to stick a knife in the eye of the next person who said it.

My phone started ringing as we got closer, blasting out _Love Bites (So Do I) _by Halestorm. I hastily pressed the 'accept call' before the un-Virtue-like drums and guitars attracted the attention of any of the Jesus freaks.

"What?" I half-snarled into the phone without bothering to look at Caller ID.

"Georgia? Are you okay?" It was Simon.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine," I sighed, running a hand through my already-tousled hair. "I'm tired, is all. Didn't get much sleep last night."

Nathan suddenly ripped the phone out of my hand and put it to his ear. "Yeah, sorry about that. What did I tell ya, though. I said she was a girl who could keep it goin' all night."

With an irritated shriek of "Give me the fucking phone!", I yanked the phone back. "Ignore him, Simon. He's being a twat, as usual."

"Right," Simon said wearily. "Listen, I think you should get here soon. There is something you and Nathan need to see. Kelly and I are around the west side of the building. Be careful."

"Alright, see you in a minute," I said, hanging up.

When Nathan and I arrived, Kelly waved us forward with a _Shh_ing gesture. Her eyes widened in shock at what I was wearing, but she didn't push it. As Nathan and I looked round the corner she and Simon were peering round, we saw all the Virtuers gathered around a bonfire, dumping in all the explicit items from their so-called sinful pasts. First, it was a guy dropping in a bag of drugs, followed by a girl dropping in a purple vibrator.

"What a waste of a perfectly good dildo," I muttered. The other three turned to me with looks of surprise, disbelief, and, in Nathan's case, lust. "Not that I'd use it myself," I said quickly. "I mean, that'd probably fetch a fiver on eBay." I was drowned out by the resounding cheers that everyone around the bonfire made.

"Have you seen Curtis?" asked Simon.

"They got him last night at the community centre," whispered Nathan. "It was some spooky shit."

"I was all up for beating the shit out of them, but _no_, Nathan here didn't think I was capable," I grumbled.

"It's 'er," Kelly said softly. "She's doin' this to 'em." She was looking at Rachel, who was talking to a camera crew. They were putting her on TV?! _Really_?! And she was willing to be filmed dressed like _that_?! I wanted to cry.

"Come on," I said. "We seriously need to do something before she turns all the teenagers in town into her little followers."

"What are we supposed to do?" hissed Nathan.

"Er…" I was stumped. "Oh! I've got it! Let's go see if Sally's back! We can tell her about last night! Maybe she'll know what to do?"

"Good idea," said Kelly, and the four of us ran round to the front entrance and exploded into the main hall. Much to our dismay, however, Sally's office was still very dark, very empty and very, very unhelpful.

"Fuuuck," I groaned.

"Where is she?" demanded Kelly.

"There's never a probation worker around when you need one!" whined Nathan. "_You_." He pointed at Simon. "You were suckin' up to her last week. Where is she?"

"I don't know," said Simon, tensely flattening his hair with the heel of his hand, something, I'd noticed, he did whenever he was worried or scared. Oh yeah, he was _so_ hiding something from us. The temptation to ask him what the fuck was going on was seriously high, but I also knew that right now our main priority was to save Curtis, Alisha and basically every other teenager in Wertham.

"We need ta tell someone wot she's doin'!" said Kelly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Oh yeah, right," Nathan said sarcastically. "'Help! Everybody has stopped takin' drugs and urinatin' in the street!' Who are we gonna tell? This is every policeman and parent's wet dream!"

"Well we can't just sit around and do fucking _nothing_!" I cried.

Nathan whirled round to look at Simon. "Come on, Barry, you're good at this stuff! Think of somethin'!"

"Who's _Barry_?" demanded Simon.

Nathan gave him a look of confusion. "You are."

"Seriously? You're genuinely being serious right now?" I said, clenching my fist to stop myself from full-on beating him in the face.

"'Is name is _Simon_!" exclaimed Kelly.

"Is it?" asked Nathan, sounding honestly confused. "I thought it was Barry. Sorry, man." He clapped Simon, who was wearing an expression of both _I'm going to kill you_ and _Why am I here with these idiots? _on his face, on the shoulder, slightly patronizingly.

"Wiv Curtis and Alisha gone, it's down to os," said Kelly, again dragging us back to the problem at hand. "No one else is gonna do shit!" Just then, we all simultaneously noticed Virtue-Alisha walk through the entrance hall, and we all ducked down by one of the indoor pillars.

"We need ta get 'er away from 'ere," said Kelly softly.

"Yeah. We need to find out what the fuck has happened to them," I agreed.

"What about her power? We can't touch her," pointed out Simon. Shit, he was right.

"And what if that Virtue bitch shows up?" added Nathan. "She's vexin' them with some kinda Derren Brown voodoo mind shit!" I looked at him, and a sudden intense expression appeared on his face. "We need to gear up." That really didn't sound good.

* * *

Well, whoever said red and yellow shouldn't mix ? Er, everybody. There I was, standing in the locker room with the other three, all of us dressed like we were ready for Extreme House Makeover.

I'd pulled on the black jacket I kept in my locker to cover up the bare skin on my arms, and Nathan had handed me a pair of bright yellow Marigolds. I'd also changed from my heels to the biker boots, to cover up the skin exposed from my feet to my knees. With the red camisole and yellow gloves, I looked like a puddle of ketchup and mustard.

I placed my pink headphones into my ears and scrolled through my phone until I reached a song I figured seemed appropriate for the occasion: _Fences _by Paramore. I stuck it on repeat and cranked the volume as high as it would go. There was no way I was getting virginized, just no fucking way.

Simon, Kelly and I were all ready to roll. It was just a question of waiting, of course, for Nathan. He was scrolling his thumb around his iPod track pad, and as I looked at the iPod screen I saw he was only now in the F section of his Song A-Z.

"Wot are ya doin'?" Kelly demanded frustratedly.

"You've gotta have the right track for this kinda thing," he replied. "You need somethin' up-tempo, with a bit of edge to it. I'm thinkin' Jay-Z, maybe a bit of Dizzy?" He looked at me almost for conformation. "We could be gettin' into a whole 'race' thing."

I heavily rolled my eyes. "For fuck sake, will you just pick a fucking song?"

"Oh, hold on!" he said, sounding satisfied. "That's the baby." He looked to his right, at Kelly, then to me and Simon at his left and nodded. The next thing, we were all striding forward, still in a line.

You know those moments in a movie, when you know shit's about to get fucked up? Those moments when the main characters all start synchronized movements, and that's always the scene that ends up on the theatrical poster? Well, that's what we looked like. Only not so badass.

We made our way quickly and quietly around the community centre, until we eventually spied Virtue-Alisha making her way down a corridor before going into one of the storage rooms.

"Right, we all good on the plan then?" I said.

"We'll take 'er out through the fire exit," ordered Kelly.

"Yeah. You three go round the back and wait for me, make sure nobody's there," I instructed.

"I still don't get why you've gotta do it," said Nathan.

"Because I'm the one who can literally pack a flaming punch," I said. I looked between the other three, suddenly feeling a bit scared. My gaze lingered on Nathan. "Don't screw up, alright?"

"I won't," he said dismissively. "Let's do it." The four of us put our headphones back in, and the boys and Kelly turned away, heading in the opposite direction to me. Once I was sure they couldn't see me anymore, I hugged myself to calm down before going after Alisha.

This was it. It was all or nothing. I was scared, I had to admit it. To be honest, I was so scared I'm amazed I didn't piss myself. Or burn a hole in the rubber gloves I was wearing.

"Suck it up, Riches," I muttered. "You're doing this for the town. You're not some scared little teenager. You are Batgirl- fearless and badass." _Oh who am I kidding? Batgirl? I'm more like Bat-Mite! At least he was magic. Help me, someone!_

Once I reached the door of the storage room, I took a very deep breath to steady myself and slid silently into the room, locking the door behind me. Alisha was looking through some boxes on the shelves.

As I moved closer to her, she turned to me. I saw her lips move, but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. All I could hear was Paramore in my ears, singing, "_This is your night, so smile. 'Cause you'll go out in style._"

I started shouting at her, trying to get her to listen to me. "Alisha, this isn't you! It's that girl in the cardigan! She's brainwashed you! She's brainwashed _all_ of you! Come back with me, we'll help you! I promise!"

I could see the blurred silhouettes of Nathan, Kelly and Simon the other side of the frost glass panes that were set into the back doors of the storage room. They were banging on the glass to get my attention, but there was no way I was removing my headphones.

Alisha was still trying to talk to me, but over my music and the very muffled cries I could hear coming from Kelly and the boys, I still couldn't hear her. Acting on impulse, I jumped at Alisha and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her towards the doors.

I saw a figure appear through the glass window of the other door- the one I'd come into the room through. It vaguely looked Curtis-shaped. Keeping one hand on Alisha's arm to pull her, I reached out and tried to open the back doors. A few hard tugs on this told me they weren't planning on opening anytime soon.

"Nathan!" I screamed. "Help me!" I could hear the banging on the door more clearly now I was getting closer. But Alisha clearly didn't want any help from us, because she was desperately struggling against me.

"Nathan!" I shrieked again. "Nathan!" More insistent bangs, but now they were also coming indistinctly from the other door. Shitmuffins, the Virtuers were on to us! They were coming for me! Fuck!

"Nathan! They're coming for me!" I yelled, and in the few seconds I was distracted Alisha bolted for the other door. I threw myself across the room and tried to pull her back again. She suddenly reached up and ripped my headphones out, Paramore being abruptly cut off.

"Ow, bitch! That really fucking hurt!" I screeched. I could hear everything now.

The bangs on the other side of the back door were getting a lot louder and a lot more violent. I could hear Nathan shouting, "Georgia!" It was the first time he'd used my real name in weeks. "Georgia! They're coming for us too! Open the door!"

"Nathan! Go without me!" I screamed, but I ran for the door anyway, forgetting it was locked. Alisha wrestled me to the ground. I could tell part of the old her was still there, as she was avoiding coming into contact with the bare skin at the top of my legs. Her hands closed around my left calf, and she pulled me backwards. I tried to grip on to the floor, but my fingers, encased in the rubber gloves, slid uselessly along the tiles.

"Georgia!" It was Nathan again.

"Just go!" I shrieked as Alisha dragged me along the floor towards the other door.

"She's right! We need to go!" I heard Simon say insistently.

"Georgia! We'll be back for ya!" Kelly shouted through the door.

"What?! We can't just leave her in there!" Nathan shouted, sounding scandalized. "Georgia! Georgia!"

"Nathan!" But suddenly he wasn't shouting anymore, and his outline vanished from behind the glass, along with Kelly's and Simon's. They'd actually left me!? "Thanks! Thanks a lot!" I yelled angrily, even though they were already gone.

"I'm sorry!" I said to Alisha, and I whacked my leg out, my foot in its clunky boot connecting with her nose with a satisfying _crack_. She released me and skittered back on the floor, her hand covering her face, just as the other door burst open.

Thanks to my catlike reflexes…er, sort of…I managed to get to my feet and stick my headphones back into my ears. Just in time too, as I saw Curtis and Rachel at the door, and Rachel had opened her mouth to say something.

I stuck my middle finger up at her and sprinted my way through the two of them, hopefully knocking both of them to the ground. As I ran, I caught sight of the rubber gloves on my hands. Well, what was left of them. My power must have really kicked in at some point, because the Marigolds now resembled nothing more than perforated rags.

Furiously, I ripped them off my hands and threw them into the face of the Virtuer that had just tried to block my path. Oh yeah, I was sooo fucked. But I kept running, ignoring the heat in my hands and the stitch in my side.

One by one, more Virtue Virgins appeared, each one looking more brain-dead than the last. I pushed my way through them, each person (if they could be classed as that anymore) trying to grab me or knock me to the ground. Unluckily for me, one managed to rip my headphones out of both my ears and my iPod. In rage, I reached up and closed my hands around his face, and I was rewarded with an extremely pleasing hissing noise as I burned him.

As he fell to the ground, literally crying with agony, I hopped over him and headed down what looked like a deserted corridor. Note the _looked_ like a deserted corridor. For a minute, I was totally alone as I slowly made my way down the corridor, my chunky boots quietly thudding against the floor. My heart was beating in my ears, and every time a pipe in the wall gurgled I nearly shat myself.

Then I heard the noise I'd been dreading. The sound of two-inch stack heels tapping against the lino. I spun around, and came face-to-face with Rachel With The Fringe, Ms Virtue herself.

"Back the fuck off," I warned her, raising my fists like a boxer. Yes, I honestly did that. I was scared, okay?! "I mean it, get away from me, or I'll kick you so hard in the cunt you'll lose your virginity to my shoe!"

Rachel just gave me an extremely self-satisfied smirk. "Look at yourself. Do you have any idea how much of a slut you look like?"

"Er, do you have any idea of what the word 'fashion' means?" I shot back. "Why don't you try turning the fucking light on before getting dressed? I mean, that cardigan, with _those_ shoes? Please. You look like you've escaped from a fucking retirement home."

Rachel shook her head at me. "You think that swearing and being violent will make people respect you?"

"Er, yeah. It's worked pretty damn well for the last few months."

"And dressing like a slut? You think that boys will respect you if you go around dressed like…that?" She gestured at my shorts and top.

"Are you being serious?" I raised my eyebrow at her. "I dress like this for myself, not for anybody else! And I am not a slut! I haven't had sex for like, a year and a half, thank you very much!"

"If you dress like a slut, you'll be treated like a slut," said Rachel.

"Oh, shut the _fuck_ up!" I snarled. "You don't know anything about me!"

"We can help you," she insisted, and I could tell that my stalling time was over. This was it.

I patted my shorts and whispered, "I'm gonna miss you." before looking back at Rachel and glaring. As she opened her mouth to form the words that would strip me of anything I believed was right, I defiantly gave her the finger.

"You don't need to behave like this," said Rachel, in an unearthly, disjointed tone. "You can be so much better."

I experienced a sensation of falling down a deep, black tunnel. It felt like it would never end. It was like my conscience was being sucked from my body. Then…nothing.

* * *

_"It's obvious that you're dying, dying,  
Just living proof that the camera's, lying,  
So oh, oh, open wide,  
'Cause this is your night,  
So smile.  
'Cause you'll go out in_ style."  
**-Paramore, "Fences"**

* * *

**A/N- I hope you liked the way Georgia was virginized. She really isn't gonna be the kind of girl to go down without a fight. I also hope you like the way Nathan started using her proper name. Let me know, anyway. Reviews, guys? They make me so, so happy! Xx Gee xX**


	16. Guns 'n Cardigans

**A/N- I've been thinking, and I've decided to model part of this chapter after Persephone Price and It Belongs In A Museum and have bits of this chapter from Nathan's third-person POV. However, I'm also going to try my hand at a Virtued-Georgia POV as well. I hope ya like it! Thanks a million to Lizzie (your reviews always make me smile!), Guest and TheHonestContender for their awesome reviews!**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen- Guns 'n Cardigans**

Okay, so this was bad. Really bad. Extremely bad. So, so, so, so, so, so, _so_ bad. It was completely dark outside, and Nathan was totally alone. Like, completely. And for a change, it wasn't actually his fault.

Nathan, Barry, Kelly had been chased by those Virtue dickheads round half the estate before they'd managed to get Kelly. She'd tripped over something on the bridge, and the Jesus zombies had totally swamped her. She hadn't stood a chance.

Not too soon after that, Barry, the selfish prick, had turned himself invisible and done a runner. Nathan knew the little bastard didn't exactly like him (not that he knew why) but seriously? Leaving him at the mercy of the Virgins United gang was just plain fucking_ cruel_. Thank God that masked guy on the BMX had shown up, or God knows what would have happened to him.

And then there was the other thing. A very _big_ thing.

He, Nathan Young, had put himself in danger for someone. And not just a someone-someone, but a GIRL-someone. As in, like, a _female_. What the actual fuck was wrong with him?! He seriously needed to sort out his priorities: himself first, and fuck everybody else.

Okay, yeah, so Scorch had one hell of a body that consisted of a nice arse and a good pair of tits but really? Was she honestly worth getting virginized for? No, was the answer to that, she wasn't! Oh God. Did he…no, of course he didn't.

There was no fucking way that Nathan _fancied_ her. He just wasn't in to all that 'feelings' shit. They caused too many problems and waaay too many tears from the girl in question. Nathan had stopped dealing such stupid shit as 'feelings' years ago.

So then why had he tried to save her? Oh God, maybe he did fancy her. Like, properly. As in, the feelings he had for her weren't just that he wanted to shag her. Oh shit. Oh God. Nathan was starting to seriously freak out. This weird-arse revelation (that he seriously hoped was just a faze brought on by all the freakiness) and the fact he was basically the only sane person left in Wertham was making him panic.

"For fuck sake, get a grip," he muttered to himself. Get a grip on what?! He was fucked. Those Virtue Virgins had taken over the community centre. Where the fuck was he supposed to go?! Good one, now he was even more homeless than he had been this morning. At least the community centre had a frigging roof.

Right. He tried to think about everything logically. Kelly, Alisha and Curtis were all gone, all sucked into the world of cardigans and abstinence. Urgh…abstinence. Even the word made Nathan want to puke. Barry was just a dickhead, and it probably wouldn't make a difference to his life if he was Virtued or not. Barry was a bigger virgin than most of the cardigan-wearing twats put together.

Then there was the fact that Scorch had totally vanished. But she was fine. She had to be. She'd gotten into fights more times than Nathan had taken a piss. She could set fire to people with her bare hands, for fuck sake! Which Nathan weirdly found kind of hot.

Jesus Christ, focus! Right, what the fuck was he supposed to do? Scorch would know what to do. She always knew what to do, even if her answer was "kick the shit out of them". He needed to find her. He'd tell her the whole 'Virtuers overtook the community centre' situation and she'd, as usual, take pity on him and let him stay.

He loved it at her flat, and it totally wasn't because all she slept in were those tiny little nighties or vest-and-short sets that were usually a bit too small for her. Totally wasn't because of that at all. Again, focus, for Christ's sake! Now seriously wasn't the time to be thinking about Scorch's tits or arse.

There would be plenty of time for that when all of this was over. Although, he did have a nice memory of the time she'd dropped her phone and she'd bent over right in front of him, the hem of her nightie inching up and revealing the fact that she wasn't wearing sensible underwear…

FOCUS, FOR FUCK SAKE!

He figured it was a good idea to call Scorch and find out what the fuck was going on. He pulled his phone out and scrolled through his contacts until he came to _GEORGIA RICHES IS SEXY AND PERFECT_. Damn, he knew he should never have let her borrow his phone_. _

* * *

"Our Father in Heaven, I thank you for this second chance to put my life right. I promise to you that I am truly sorry for all of my past sins. I regret all the abundant alcohol consumption, and the smoking, and the bad language, and the drugs and the sex. I promise that I am going to use this new chance you have given me to make something good of myself. In Jesus' name, amen." I opened my eyes and blew out the candle in front of me.

This was how it was supposed to be. Rachel was right- my life had been awful before now. Virtue had helped me to see the real sins of my past. I never realised what a complete slut I had been before. No wonder I'd never had a stable relationship. The way I had been dressing had made boys think I was only good for one thing.

I planned on getting rid of all the clothing from before, as it served as a horrible reminder of who I used to be. I'd brought myself some acceptable, virtuous clothes to wear. Who knew that the charity shops in town would serve as a perfect starter point? _That reminds me. I should really get started on removing the old clothes that so I can throw them away tomorrow_.

I went into my bedroom and opened my wardrobe. For goodness sake, did I honestly go out in public dressed like such a tramp? The pictures that were tacked to my bedroom walls confirmed that I had. It looked like my friends dressed awfully too. When we'd finished with all the work that still needed to be done in Wertham, I'd find them and bring them back here. It was clear they needed our help.

As I began pulling all the clothes out of my wardrobe and stuffing them in a bin bag, I realised I had worn a lot of lace. Urgh, such cheap material. I was also alarmed by how short everything was, not to mention the horrifying amount of high heels I owned. I must have looked like stripper.

Once I'd emptied my wardrobe of my sluttish clothing and re-stocked it with my far more conventional purchases, I got started on all my old underwear as well. There were some shockers in there. Everything had some form of lace on it, and all the knickers were so small I'm amazed they fit me. The only thing I'm surprised I didn't come across were suspenders…oh no, wait. There was a pair. Urgh, hideous.

I threw them all in a different bin bag and discarded them on my bed so I could dump them tomorrow, before getting started on removing all the posters from my bedroom walls. They were all so inappropriate: the fictitious superheroes, the so-called aliens, the bad language, the improper bikini photo. I took that last one down with a sigh. It wasn't me anymore.

Somewhere in amongst all this, my phone began to ring, blaring out that awful rock song. I would need to change my ringtone to something far more suitable. I ignored the call. Nobody that important would be calling me tonight, not when we had so much work to do. I let the phone ring on.

* * *

The phone rang and rang, but ended up going to Scorch's voicemail, which was a Harley Quinn recording from _Batman: Arkham City_.

"_I__'__m sorry, bozo, I can__'__t come to the phone right now. I__'__m probably off doin' somethin' top secret for Mistah J, so I can__'__t tell ya what it is! _Haha, only kidding-" she started talking. "-but it's probably obvious that I can't come to the phone, so leave a message. Or don't. I don't give a shit either way. Here comes the beep."

"Scorch, it's me! Where are you?!" Nathan hissed into the phone the second the beep sounded. "Answer your phone! I'm losin' it here, I'm freakin' out!" Just then, a couple of Virtue Virgins wandered past, and he had to quickly press himself up behind a nearby concrete column to conceal himself. "Call me, yeah?" Shit, he sounded like a whiny little bitch.

Nathan peered round the side of the column to see where the Virtuers were going. Some guy was spraying a tag on to one of the underpass walls. The Cardigan Crusaders grabbed the poor bastard and dragged him away. It was single-handedly one of the most terrifying things Nathan had ever seen.

Right. Time for more of that logical thinking. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? Check on Scorch, he supposed. Just to make sure she was alright, and hadn't been jumped by the Virtuers. It was seriously suspicious though. She always answered the phone, even that time he'd called her and she'd been in the shower. She'd still answered the phone, even though it was just to tell him to 'piss off and ring back in half an hour because I'm currently naked in the shower and freezing my tits off!' That had been a nice image for him…again with the focussing!

He arrived at Georgia's flat twenty minutes later. He pressed the doorbell six times, and knocked on the door five, but there was no answer. The lights were on though, meaning she was either home, or there was a really shit burglar in the house. He moved round the side of the flat to see if there was any other way in.

One of the flat's windows was open, and Nathan eased it open wide enough for him to slip inside silently. Well, as silent as you can be when you headbutt the glass and collapse to the floor on the way in. "Shit!"

Standing up, he realised he was in Georgia's bedroom. At least…he thought it was. The walls were still that shitty girly bright pink, but all the nerd posters of _Batman_ and _Star Wars_, the _Don__'__t Keep Calm and Freak The Fuck Out _poster and the bikini picture of Georgia and her friends by that pool were all gone.

Oh fuck, this was so bad. No. There was no way Georgia had gotten herself virginized. She was the kinda girl who would beat seven shades of shite out of anyone who tried to tell her Jesus was the way.

Nathan tore his eyes away from the walls and looked at her bed. Two bin bags were there, and a load of underwear was spilling out of one. He couldn't resist having a closer look, and picked up one of the bras- a (slightly risqué) black-and-red lace number. Scrunched up inside one of the cups was a matching thong.

"Jesus Christ, Scorch," he muttered, pulling at the bra's label. "Ann Summers 34DD? Never thought she had it in her." From the other bag, he pulled out a tiny red miniskirt. God, the thought of her in some of these…

That was when he noticed the packet of sports bras lying next to the bin bag. He picked it up. They were Georgia's size. Oh, fuck.

"Nathan? Is that you?" Georgia's voice floated into his mind, and he hastily dropped the packet. Shit. Right, time to step away from the bed before she kicked seven shades of shite out of _him_ for touching her underwear.

Nathan turned around to face her, a shamefaced smile playing at his lips, but when he saw what she looked like, his mouth dropped open in complete horror. "Oh Jesus, no." So they'd managed to get to Georgia as well.

There stood the girl who had vowed she'd never wear anything other than miniskirts, skinny jeans and shorts. Well that had flown straight out the fucking window.

Here she was, dressed in a tweed- _tweed_- skirt that fell just below her knees, one-inch heels, and a green blouse so freakin' loose you couldn't even tell she had tits. Her usually long, loose hair was pulled into two little-girly plaits, and her eyes were completely scrubbed of their usual panda-like make-up. Around her neck was a crucifix necklace.

Basically, she was dressed like a terminal virgin.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" she asked in an innocent, sweet tone.

Problem number two: her usual chavvy-cross-farmer accent had totally changed. Now she sounded as well-spoken as the rest of them. She was pronouncing Ts and _ing_s, for Christ's sake!

Problem number three: she wasn't swearing at him. Instead of asking him why the fuck he was in her fucking bedroom, she was just staring at him with her head cocked slightly to the side, her usually bright blue eyes dull and doe-like.

"What did they do to you?" he asked.

Georgia turned to the mirror on the wall and smoothed down the fabric of her skirt. "I think I look quite nice," she replied blandly. "I look so much better than I did before."

"You've gotta be shittin' me. Yeah, okay, you _could_ argue it's a huge improvement. But this…" He gestured at Georgia's virginal attire. "It's not you."

"Yes, and that's a good thing." Her eyes widened a little bit more in earnest. "I had an absolutely disgusting attitude. I was so violent and aggressive."

"Yes, but in a good way," Nathan insisted. "You're one of the only people who gives me a slap. There's no bullshit with you."

"I was a horrible, skanky, chavvy slut. I totally damaged my whole life with all the drinking, and the smoking, and the drugs. I could have been such a promising psychologist and I threw all of it away. All I ever did was curse and get into fights with people. Is it any wonder my parents threw me out?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You were fine how you were!"

"No, I wasn't. I acted like I was so sure of myself, when actually I was terribly insecure. I swore and got into fights in public to seem tough, and I even did it in front of my little brother, and now my mum and dad won't let me near him. This is better. _I'm_ better. Don't you see that, Nathan? I didn't like who I was."

"Well, I did," blurted out Nathan before he could stop himself. Argh, feelings! They were fucking everywhere! He looked harder at Georgia to see any signs of life in those blank eyes- a smirk, a smile, a middle finger, _anything_. But no, blank as fucking blank could be.

"I can't believe I'm gonna say this. I liked who you were. I liked the fact that you didn't give two flyin' fucks about what anyone thought of you. I liked the sarcasm, and the irony, and the shoutin', and the constant flow of swear words that fell out of your mouth. I liked that half the time, you sounded like a bigger chav than Kelly. I liked the way your make-up made you look like an Asian panda. Your clothes…yeah, okay so maybe they were all too short and too tight, and I wouldn't exactly want you to meet my parents in them but hey, they worked for me! Okay, they were fun, flirty and were a bit mental! Like you."

Nathan looked intently at Georgia again. Still nothing. Still a Bambi-style expression etched on her make-up-free face. She had freckles. He'd never noticed that before. He sighed again and rubbed at his eyes.

"Look, what I'm tryin' to say is…do you remember what you used to call yourself? A train wreck, yeah? Well, that's what all this-" he gestured at the bin bags on the bed. "Should have been- a complete train wreck. But it wasn't. It had attitude! Like you. It _was_ you. And now you're…not…you." He was starting to seriously run out of steam.

"Look at you!" said Georgia in a harsh, judgemental voice that wasn't anything like her usual sarcastic, mocking tones. "You haven't achieved _anything_ with your life! You're a waste of space! You're such a loser!" Jesus, talk about overkill!

"There's no need to get personal!" Nathan said, offended.

"We can _help_ you!" Georgia insisted, taking a small step forward.

"I _never_ should have left you back there," he said, also taking a step forward. God, he sounded so _emotional_. "I shouldn't have left you. You needed my help, and I left you, and now you're gone. I'm sorry." He put both hands on Georgia's shoulders and leant down, pressing his lips to her cheek for a few seconds.

When he pulled back, he expected her to have snapped out of it. He didn't know why, but he hoped. But when he looked into Georgia's dead eyes, all of that hope vanished. All she did was shake her head and say, "That was really inappropriate, Nathan." No! She was supposed to slap him upside the head and tell him to fuck off!

But that was it. There was nothing left. Nothing left of the Georgia he knew. There was no point trying to force her out of this; she was gone. Nathan sighed again and pushed his way past her, out of her bedroom and out the front door. He didn't say bye, or anything.

As he got outside, it really hit him: Georgia was _gone_. There was nothing left of the funny, cute, sarcastic bitch that Nathan knew and, he may as well just admit it, fancied. Yeah, he fancied her, all right. Or what used to be her. He guessed he'd known that for a while now, not that it had made much difference to his life until she'd been replaced by this Virtue-filled, Christian Body Snatcher. Nathan missed her. Missed the real her.

See this? This was _exactly why_ Nathan had given up with feelings. Too much pain, too much bullshit, too much…_attachment_. Nathan glanced back at Georgia's flat over his shoulder. He could see her silhouette at the window, moving back and forth. He couldn't see her again, not like that. Not stripped of everything she used to believe was right. There was only really one solution- leave. Just fuck off and let everyone else deal with this shit.

The walk/rapid speed-jog back to the community centre was fucking terrifying. Every time Nathan turned a corner there was another load of those Virtue twats. God, it was like they were multiplying. Scratch that, they _were_ multiplying. They were like amoeba, or bacteria, or…or…something else that split in two.

Thank God he didn't have much stuff to get. He literally only had a couple of bags. He'd grabbed them and gotten to the train station in a matter of about half an hour. He had to spend the night there, freezing his arse off on one of the plastic benches, waiting for the first train the next day to take him far, far away from Virtueville. He must've looked like a right hobo.

However, when the damn train actually arrived the next morning, Nathan paused as he went to step on. Maybe it was all the frigging emotions from the night before, but it occurred to him that he couldn't just abandon Georgia. He could save her. He could be like all those heroes she worshipped so much.

He could be fucking Batman. And what did Batman do? He saved the town, and saved the girl, and that was exactly what Nathan was going to do. Even if the girl was violent, sarcastic and slightly messed up.

Jesus Christ, if this was what having a conscience felt like, then it was shite.

Nathan made his way back to the community centre as fast as he could. He locked himself in one of the abandoned storage rooms around the side of the building and changed into his Batsuit…well, it was a suit, anyway.

As he came out of the storage room, a couple of Virtuers ambled past. _Oh shit. _Thank fuck they just smiled mechanically at him and twittered, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Nathan replied, trying to copy their dull, bland tones. "Beautiful weather, isn't it?" The Jesus twats nodded and smiled again before continuing their morning stroll. _Pricks_, thought Nathan, grimly pleased he managed to pass for one of them. Right, test of character over, it was time to get into the community centre and kick that Virtue bitch to the ground.

The second Nathan set foot in the community centre, he wanted to scream. They were fucking _everywhere_, each one more Virtue-ish than the last. The main hall was full of Jesus freaks sorting through a load of boxes, and they were all dressed practically identically- high-neck blouses or jumpers for the girls, fucking blazers or sweater-vests for the boys, and cardigans. Cardigans everywhere.

As he walked into the main hall, he spotted Georgia, wearing a knee-length pencil skirt and a turtlenecked blouse, in a corner with Alisha and Virtue Bitch, looking at a map. Oh God, they were planning to take over the world!

But before he could go over to her, Curtis came up to him and cheerfully said, "Nathan! I'm so glad you're with us now!"

Nathan plastered on the most twattish-looking smile and formally held his hands in front of him. "I'm so pleased to be here," he replied, still trying for those dulcet tones. "I was such a loser. The drugs, the sex." He let out a scoff. "All that fast food! I was so miserable."

"I hear you," agreed Curtis. "You were such an annoying idiot."

Ouch. Dickhead. Instead of replying with some ingenious, snarky comment, Nathan just smiled at him and gestured at the clipboard in Curtis' hands. "What's this?"

"Oh, it's a petition," answered Curtis. "We're campaigning against contraceptives being given out in schools. Will you sign it?" Yeah, because clearly that was _exactly_ what Britain needed: more teen pregnancy.

Still, not to raise suspicion, he took the clipboard from Curtis and said, "There's only one thing young ladies should be insertin' in themselves." He signed the sheet with a flourish. "And that's knowledge." 'Inserting'?! That made it sound like a fucking tampon.

That was when Virtue Bitch moved into his line of sight. She was going into the probation office.

"Please excuse me," he said to Curtis, who smiled and nodded. Once away from Curtis, Nathan pulled his headphones out of his pocket and wedged them into his ears, cranking the volume up as high as it could go. If he got virginized now, the world was fucked. He also pulled the fake gun out of his trousers. It was time to fuck shit up.

* * *

I smoothed down my skirt with my hands, and straightened my blouse. I was better now. So much better. I looked at the map of the world that was tacked up, and smiled. _Soon_, I thought. _Everyone will be as uncorrupted as we are._

"Alisha, could you hand me that box of ribbons?" I asked, pointing at one of the many boxes on the table. She nodded and handed me one. I stuck a Virtue sticker on the side and put it with the rest of the boxes we were going to take with us. With Wertham nearly completely pure, we were going to move down to London, where there were so many young people that needed our help.

"Georgia!" It was Curtis. "Have you signed the petition against contraceptives being given out in schools yet?"

"No, I haven't. It's such a good idea though. Teenagers need repression from underage sex, not encouragement. Of course I'll sign." Curtis handed me the clipboard he was holding and I quickly signed it, eager to get back to work.

"Did you see Nathan?" he asked me as I handed it back to him.

"When?" I frowned. "He came to talk to me last night. I tried to help him, I really did. But he refused, and he left."

"Well, you did something right," smiled Curtis. "He's with us now. He even signed the petition. Look." Curtis handed me the clipboard again. I scanned for the words 'Nathan Young', but all I saw were the names of everyone in the hall at the moment. Then I saw it. Not Nathan's name, but something else. Something only he would write. 'Harley Quinn'

"Curtis," I said urgently, grabbing his forearm. "Where's Nathan?"

"I'm not sure," he said with a frown. "Why?"

"Oh no."

"Georgia, what is it?" asked Alisha.

"It's a trick!" I exclaimed, just as the door to the old probation office burst open. It was Kelly, and she looked terrified.

"Help!" she shouted. "Someone help me!"

"Kelly! What is it?" shouted Curtis, but his question was answered when Nathan emerged from the office, dragging Rachel out in half a headlock. He was pointing a gun around the room.

"Everybody stay the fuck down!" he shouted, sounding delusional. "Or I will shoot her in the face!"

Needless to say, I dropped to the floor, smacking my chin on the linoleum, and crawled under the nearest table.

* * *

Nathan started dragging Virtue Bitch up the stairs, ignoring the terrified-child stare Georgia had given him when she'd looked at him. He'd scared her literally under the table. He could see her now, shaking and looking like she thought he'd actually shoot her. For fuck sake, did his speech the night before mean _nothing_ to her? Probably not.

However, he really didn't have time to worry about this because, instead of staying down on the fucking floor like he'd told them to, the Virtuers started chasing after him, clambering up the stairs. God, were they that desperate for a leader that they were honestly going to follow him to get this bitch back?

Nevertheless, he managed to get himself and Virtue bitch up on to the roof, and he barricaded the door shut with a load of chairs. Then it occurred to him. Now what?

Virtue Bitch seemed to have the same idea as she sniped, "Where are you going to go?"

Nathan grabbed her and dragged her over to the side of the building, looking down at the pavement bellow where all the other Virtuers had gathered. And there, right in the middle, was Georgia. Kelly, Curtis and Alisha were either side of her, all of them looking up at Nathan.

"Nathan, please!" Georgia cried up to him. "Just let her go!" It was her he was doing this for. Well, technically he was doing it for the entire fucking human race, but still. He guessed it was time to make another one of his heartfelt speeches.

"She's got you thinkin' this is how you're supposed to be?! Well, it's not!" he shouted. "We're young! We're supposed to drink too much! We're supposed to have bad attitudes and shag each other's brains out! We are designed to party! This is it! Yeah, so a few of us will overdose, or go mental! But Charles Darwin said you can't make an omelette without breakin' a few eggs! That's what it's all about - breakin' eggs! And by eggs, I do mean, gettin' twatted on a cocktail of class As!" It was raining now, making this whole thing look like a scene from a movie. Or TV show. Nathan could just imagine the atmospheric violins and drums playing in the background as he looked down at his listeners.

God, talk about a rapt audience. The Virtuers were staring up at Nathan like he was the frigging Messiah, or that guy that gave God the Ten Commandments. Moises? Oh whatever. So he took a deep breath and ploughed on.

"If you could just _see_ yourselves! It breaks my heart! You're wearin' cardigans! We had it all! We fucked up bigger and better than any generation that came before us! _We were so beautiful! _We're screw-ups. _I'm_ a screw-up. And I plan to be a screw-up until my late twenties, maybe even my early thirties. And I will shag my own _mother_ before I let her or anyone else take that away from me!" Boom. He should've got a fucking Oscar or something for that little beauty. However, it really hadn't sunk into the Virtuers, who were staring up at him with really stupid (well, stupider than usual) expressions on their faces.

And Nathan's speech clearly hadn't meant a fucking thing to Virtue Bitch either, as she was smacking him so hard on the shoulder it felt like she was trying to push him off the roof.

She gestured at his gun and said something, but since he was still listening to music, all he heard was a few muffled mumbles. Still, to see what the fuck she was going on about, he lifted his gun up. Shite, it was leaking. Busted.

"I still can't hear you!" he said, interrupting whatever she was babbling on about. To shut her up, he squirted her a couple of times in the face with the water pistol. She started pushing at him and trying to swipe the gun from his hand. So really what happened next was all her fault.

Virtue Bitch slipped on the rain-slicked concrete and plummeted to the ground. She'd grabbed Nathan's arm in the process, and he was on his way to following her when Barry basically Apparated from nowhere and grabbed hold of Nathan's hand.

"Save me Barry!" shrieked Nathan, desperately trying to keep hold of Barry's hand. But it was no use. Either he was too heavy or Barry was too goddamned weak (Nathan suspected it was that last one), because soon he was falling as well.

_Save me Barry_. Nice last words there. For God's sake. He'd wanted them to be _I buried the treasure in the…_ but no. His last words were wasted begging Barry for help.

This was it. It really was. The wind whistled in his ears, giving him a headache, but that was nothing compared to the searing pain in his chest that followed. But then there was no pain. There was nothing at all.

* * *

_"When you're gone,  
The pieces of my heart are missing you,  
When you're gone,  
The face I came to know is missing too,  
When you're gone,  
The words I need to hear to always get me through,  
The day, and make it okay,  
I miss_ you."  
**-Avril Lavigne, "When You're Gone"**

* * *

**A/N- I hope you think my Nathan was good enough! I also hope you enjoyed the virginized-Georgia bits as well. The next chapter will obviously all be in Georgia's POV again. Review guys! You're all awesome! Xx Gee xX**


	17. Ashes To Smashes

**A/N- Obviously now back to permanent Georgia POV. Thank you so much to Becca for reviewing! **

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen- Ashes To Smashes**

It was like waking up from one of those dreams where you're falling. One second it was darkness, the next…

"Okay, what the fuck am I wearing?!" I demanded, pulling at the neck of the nun-like blouse I was wearing. I looked down and saw the skirt I was clothed in ended just below my knees. "Oh God! It burns! Knee-length skirts and high necks to me are like sunlight and holy water to vampires!"

"What are we doing out here?" said Alisha, looking between me, Kelly and Curtis. I could see the looks of varying disgust and confusion on all our faces. We were all dressed similarly, in clothes even a virgin from 1687 wouldn't be seen dead in.

Then it came to me: the Virtue association, the entire town turning wholesome and Christian, the girl with the fringe brainwashing everyone…

"It was that Virtue bitch. It's like Nathan said. She was fucking with our minds and turning us into her holy army of the night," I said. That was when I noticed we were missing two members of our little group. "Speaking of which, where _is_ Nathan? Or Simon?" The only answer I got was a loud, piercing shriek emanating from somewhere behind me. I whipped round to see what was going on.

Everything stopped. It was like my life was flung into slow motion. I was seeing things. I had to be. Or maybe I was dreaming. Yeah, that was it. This whole thing….just a dream. It wasn't Nathan who was impaled on that fence; of course it wasn't. But it was.

I screamed. "No! Nathan! No! No! No!" I ran up to the fence, Kelly, Curtis and Alisha close behind me. I could see his injury more clearly now. The serrated tops of the fence posts protruded harshly from his chest, red blood staining the white cotton of the shirt he was wearing. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. I just couldn't.

I held his pale head in my hands, frantically, desperately searching his upside-down face for anything, _anything _that would tell me he was still alive, something that would stop my world slowly crashing down around me. But there was nothing. His green eyes stared blankly at me, but not seeing. Not seeing. Not seeing. I burst into tears, great huge sobs that made my entire body shake.

I grabbed hold of Curtis and shook him violently. "Turn back time! Rewind it!" I screamed at him. "Stop this from happening! Please Curtis! Only you can do it! Only you can make it go away! So do it! Make it go away for me! _Do it_!"

"I don't know to do it!" he shouted, also sounding like he was going to cry. Kelly and Alisha already had tears trickling down their cheeks, and I could vaguely tell a few of the random bystanders were looking distraught, but nobody sounded like me- screeching and screaming like there was no tomorrow.

"Please! We need to save him! We need to go back!" I shrieked. "He's not allowed to die! Not Nathan! Not him!" I completely broke down then. I would have gone straight down to the floor if it wasn't for Curtis' arms around my shoulders, and Kelly's around my waist. Alisha had her hand on my arm, making sure she didn't touch my skin. I could feel the heat on my hands. I curled them into fists to stop myself from hurting anyone.

I looked back at Nathan's body. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It couldn't be this way. Why him? Why not me? Why Nathan? He was dead. It was over. Over for him, and over for me. I was broken, and I was alone. Nobody could help me now.

* * *

The funeral was two days later. I never did quite understand how people arranged the space for the grave and the gravestone and the coffin and all that in such a short amount of time. I'd only ever been to one funeral in my life, my Nan's, and I'd been all of three years old. I couldn't even remember it.

Someone should have warned me about how much they made you cry. How much they made you miss the person being buried. How much they made you wish you were anywhere but the funeral.

I thanked fuck that the remaining five of us on community service had gone as a group. I needed them to keep me sane. Being trapped in this room made me feel like I was losing the couple of marbles I had left. I sat in between Simon and Alisha, dressed in my most formal black dress, which was indecently short for a funeral, but I'd tried to make it better with my opaque black tights and black high heels.

I looked around the church. There weren't a particularly large number of people there. Then again, I guessed there were only a few people who could truly tolerate Nathan's somewhat…different sense of humour. I'd been one of them. I was trying to suppress the tears that were fighting their way out. I felt like shit. I'd made an effort to wear make-up today and to do my hair, because over the last two days I'd worn nothing but pyjamas and no make-up. _Don't cry. Not yet._

When the others headed to the graveside, I hung back, wanting to see Nathan on my own. At first, I hadn't understood why anyone would want open-casket funerals. But now I understood, it makes it a bit less painful if you can see them to say goodbye.

I looked into the coffin, hesitant. Nathan looked so peaceful, so calm. He looked like he did when he was sleeping. But he wasn't sleeping. Not anymore. He was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and the black hoodie I always thought looked good on him. I was glad he wasn't wearing a suit or something formal. This worked. It was him.

I brushed a few tendrils of his curly hair off his pallid forehead. I'd always loved his hair. It was so wild, so full of life. Like him. Everything about him made him. I missed him so much.

I tucked his black iPod into one of his hands and said, "Why did you do this to me?" My voice cracked on the 'you', and tears started falling down my face, slowly. A few dripped down on to Nathan's face, and I quickly wiped them off with my finger. His skin was cold under my touch.

I couldn't be in there any longer. The musty smell of the church was threatening to choke me. I leaned forward and gently kissed Nathan's forehead, before turning around and heading to the churchyard.

As the coffin was lowered into the ground, I did allow myself to cry- but silently. I didn't want the attention focussed on me when it needed to be focussed on Nathan. However, I was being obvious enough for Kelly to take my hand in hers, and for Simon to put his arm tightly around my shoulders. I turned my head and wept into his shoulder, past caring that I was probably getting eyeliner all over his denim jacket. The five of us were the last people remaining by Nathan's graveside. None of us really spoke, we just stared at the gravestone.

"We should go celebrate," said Alisha sombrely. I could tell the others all looked at her, but I was either unable or extremely unwilling to move my gaze from the gravestone. "Not celebrate like 'woo I'm so happy', just like…y'know…can we just go for a drink?"

I heard all their footsteps as they started to move away, and saw the masses of black in my peripheral vision move away. But I didn't move. It was like I was rooted to the spot.

"Georgia, come on," said Alisha softly, and I finally looked up. They were all looking at me, expressions of sorrow mixed with worry on all their faces.

I shook my head. "I'm going home. I can't face it. I'm sorry, guys."

"Nah, come on, Georgia. If ya stay at 'ome you'll go mental," said Kelly firmly. "Come wiv os." I sighed, and then nodded. Alisha and Curtis both gave me small smiles before they started walking again, but Kelly and Simon hung back, waiting for me. Simon offered me his hand, which I gratefully took. I hugged myself closer to him and didn't let go until we reached our destination. Of all the places to go to, we were at a fucking nightclub.

We couldn't have stuck out much more if we tried, what with our sombre clothing, and the fact we were literally the only people in the club that weren't dancing. The loud music and the flashing strobe lights were doing my head in.

We sat in a small circle, Curtis and Simon with beers, Kelly and Alisha were both drinking vodka-based drinks, and I was drinking straight Jack Daniel's in an effort to quell the numbness in my chest. But instead of feeling warm, I just felt pissed. And when I got pissed, very often, bad things happened. I'd already told one girl I was going to 'kick your fucking lights out, bitch!' when she accidentally knocked into me as she danced.

Simon held up his bottle of beer and said, "To Nathan." We all raised our glasses and, in Curtis' case, bottles and repeated, "Nathan." I threw my head back and swallowed what was now my fourth shot of whiskey, wincing at the burning sensation in my throat. God, the stuff was vile.

Abruptly, I felt sick. All the day's events were catching up on me- the wake, the funeral and the God-knows-how-high alcohol percentage in the whiskey was making me feel fuzzy and dazed.

"I'm going to go," I announced, climbing to my feet. "I can't deal with this anymore. I've had enough."

"Stay for another drink," said Alisha, sounding concerned.

I shook my head. "No, I've had enough to drink. I'll see you guys Monday." I pushed my way through the thongs of the dancers, desperate to get away from everyone. To get away from anyone. I needed to be alone.

I burst out of the exit door, and the cold air hit me like a punch in the face. I was grateful for it, though. The coldness was a feeling other than the deadened sensation in my chest. As I headed in the direction of my flat, it seemed like all noises had intensified in the abandoned alleyway. I could hear a cat padding its way along the pavement, the rustling leaves in the trees, the delicate clicking of my high heels. Another set of footsteps.

I froze. _Okay, self-defense. Think about it._ Stiletto to the face, kick to the crotch, fist to the nose. And the failsafe of my power. I whirled around, raising my fist…and nearly punched Simon in the face.

"Jesus Christ, Simon!" I cried, lowering my hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said. "I should have guessed you'd be a bit on edge."

"I guess you could say that. What are you doing?" I said, frowning. "Why didn't you stay with Alisha, Kelly and Curtis?"

"I wanted to tell you something." He sucked in a deep breath. "Up on the roof. I tried to save him. There was nothing I could do. I'm sorry."

"I know there wasn't," I said quietly. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault." I put my arms around him and hugged him tightly. Simon returned the hug, but he then held me at arm's length before letting go of me.

"You liked him, didn't you?" he said.

"Of course I did. You and Nathan were my best friends. I just can't believe he's gone."

"No, I mean…_like_ liked him."

I blinked. Didn't see that one coming. "I don't feel the need to go into what I did or didn't feel for Nathan. He's dead. It doesn't matter."

Simon swallowed, then pulled something out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me. It was a disk in a clear plastic wallet. There was no label on the disk or the wallet. I turned it over a couple of times to make sure before I frowned at him. "What's this?"

"I made it for you. Just watch it," he said. I nodded wordlessly, too confused to say anything, before turning around and continuing my walk home.

* * *

I don't know what happened, but somewhere in between Simon handing me that disk and arriving through my front door, my sadness had turned into rage. White-hot rage. All I felt was anger- anger at myself for getting virginized and not being there to help Nathan, anger at Simon for not saving him, and anger at Nathan himself, for dying.

I slammed the front door shut and removed my heels, throwing them into my bedroom where one of them hit my full-length mirror, cracking the glass. I dumped Simon's disk on to the bed. I unzipped my dress so violently that the zip tore away from the material. Then I started screaming, awful noises that sounded like a person being tortured.

I slammed around the flat in nothing but my bra, underwear and tights. I opened the fridge and grabbed a random bowl of leftover spaghetti bolognese. I turned and chucked it at the wall, and it left a huge orange and brown stain on the red wall.

I pulled open my cutlery drawer and picked out a carving knife before throwing it at a picture of an island on the wall, where it buried itself in the canvas.

I opened the cupboard where I kept the bowls and plates and began hurling the plates at the walls, where they hit and smashed into a hundred pieces. One by one they flew through the air like Frisbees, and then I got started on the bowls.

But eventually, there was nothing left to throw and I fell to my knees, sobbing my heart out. Gone. Nathan was gone. I went to put my head in my hands, when I remembered my power. If I touched anything from now until I calmed down, my entire flat (or myself) would probably catch fire.

So I remained on the floor, slowing my breathing and heart rate until the burning in my hands stopped, and the realisation of what I'd just done hit me. Shiiit. I wiped my eyes, ignoring the smears of black on my hands, before standing up and looking at the mess I'd created. Brilliant, fucking brilliant.

The floor was decorated with shards of white, pink and blue china from the plates and bowls that I'd flung around. The carving knife was still wedged in the picture, but it had slipped slightly, leaving a huge rip in the canvassing. The spaghetti bolognese had fallen off the wall and landed in a very vomit-esque pile on the floor.

Great. I now had to clean this all up. I filled a washing up bowl with hot water and soap and got stuck into removing the massive bolognese stain on the wall. I then cleaned up the actual spaghetti that was congealing on the floor, and then the shards of china. I sliced my thumb open on an extra-jagged flake of plate or bowl, and the pain brought fresh tears to my eyes. At least, I thought it was the pain.

* * *

Half an hour later, with the living room finally looking like it had before I'd gone totally ape-shit, I went into my bedroom to get ready for bed. I pulled on a holey t-shirt over my head and an old pair of trackies. I went to look in my full length mirror to remove my make-up.

Fuckballs. I'd forgotten about the hurling-stiletto incident. I'd have to dump the mirror tomorrow; there was no way I was going outside in the dark. Call it irrational, but I was fucking terrified of the dark. Yep, I was _eighteen_ and scared of the dark, not to mention my _other _irrational fears of spiders, sharks and cats. Don't even ask about that last one, it's an extremely long story.

I removed the last traces of black eyeliner from my eyes and cheeks before climbing into bed with my laptop and the disk Simon had given me. Thank God I hadn't snapped it or anything.

The fan on the old laptop made a bit of a fuss when I put the disk in. The computer never had been the same since I'd spilled a can of Monster on it. Soon enough though, my Windows Media Player kicked into gear and the screen went black. Sad music started playing, and up came a picture of Kelly, Curtis and Alisha lounging on the steps in front of the community centre. I was in the background, shrieking _Baby_ at the top of my lungs. _Oh Simon. I love you and all that, but why would I want a DVD of your slightly stalkerish videos?_ I thought.

My question was answered literally two seconds later when Nathan's face popped up on-screen, exclaiming, "Pervert!" followed by me whining, "Hey! You ruined my song!"

"Help! He's tryin' to kiss me! He's tryin' to kiss me!" I couldn't help it. I started laughing.

"Cock, anus, a bit of ball sack?"

"If I was tryin' to wind you up, I think I'd be a bit more creative! '_I know what film you saw last summer_'_._"

_Oh my God. Simon, I love you. _He'd taken all the clips of the past few weeks that involved Nathan and merged them together to create a montage of mentalness. There were even clips of practically every insult Nathan had thrown at Simon.

"Twat!"

"Pervert!"

"Melon fuckaaah!"

I started laughing even harder, but I was also crying, tears streaming down my face. There were clips of the afternoon Simon and I had spent trying to help Nathan discover what his power was. Him trying to bend the metal bars of the iron fencing. Him being hit by various household items I was throwing at him to see if he could sense where they were coming from. That had been great fun, especially when I'd hit him in the face with that rolling-pin.

There was the time he'd tried to see if he could breathe underwater by sticking his head in a bucket full of water. Him careening down a ramp in a shopping trolley to see if he could phase through a wall.

A clip of the time he'd accused all of us of stealing his weed, and it turned out he'd had it in his fucking sock the whole time. Simon had even put in the clip of Nathan shoving me up to the camera and making Simon zoom in on my eyes, saying, "Try and zoom in through the make-up! Her eyes are bloodshot and huge, yeah?" to which I responded with, "Fuck off Nathan! You're messing up my hair, shoving my head around like that!" I was really laughing now, my sides feeling like they were going to split. But I was crying still, even more than I had at the funeral.

"So do we have a deal? High-five!"

"Come on! I was only jokin'! You'll regret this!"

"Ha! Classic!"

The final clip on the DVD was from a couple of weeks ago. I appeared on the screen, lying back on one of the little grassy hill things outside the community centre. I was sunbathing; I had a pair of pink sunglasses stuck over my eyes, and I'd stripped my jumpsuit down to the waist, exposing my pink bikini top to the world.

I sat up suddenly and pushed my sunglasses up over my eyes and said, "Simon, it's rude to record a girl without her consent! Fuck off!" when Nathan jumped out from behind one of the trees and picked me up, spinning me around in a circle. I was shrieking at both Nathan and the camera, telling Nathan to put me down and Simon to stop filming me.

"If you insist," Nathan had said, and he lifted me up higher and dumped me on the lowest branch of the nearest tree, a branch that had been low enough for him to put me on but high enough that I was too scared to jump down.

"Nathan!" I was screeching. "Fucking get me _down_!" I laughed at how ridiculously annoyed and offended I looked on screen. Then the screen went black. That was it. All I had left of him. All anyone had left of him.

God I missed him. I missed him so fucking much. It was like part of me had died with him. I'd never felt grief before. I was too young to understand when my Nan died, too young to know what sorrow really was. But now I understood too well. The constricting feeling at the back of my throat and in my chest as I sobbed my heart out was enough to tell me that this was what grief was.

And I hated it.

So I cried. I cried for a long, long time. It felt like days, but according to the clock beside my bed it was only for two hours. And when it felt like I had no tears left to cry, I turned the laptop and the light off, curling up under my duvet, tearless sobs still escaping my throat.

_I miss you,_ I thought. _Please come back_.

* * *

_"I breathe you in again,  
Just to feel you,  
Underneath my skin,  
Holding on to.  
The sweet escape,  
Is always laced with the,  
Familiar taste of_ _poison."_  
**-Halestorm, "Familiar Taste of Poison"**

* * *

**A/N- Okay, so this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I still like to think it's pretty good. I know it seemed a bit more serious than usual but come on, someone did die! Either way, I'd love to know what you're all thinking. Reviews guys! They're like cookies! And **_**everybody**_** loves cookies! Especially me. Speaking of which, I only got one review for the last chapter. Did I do something wrong? Did you hate it that much? Let me know, guys! Xx Gee xX**


	18. Unexpected Development

**A/N- Aah! I've passed 30 reviews AND passed 3,000 views! You guys are so awesome! We're on to Series Two now, my absolute, without a doubt, FAVOURITE series! Yaaay! Epic thanks to Beebopalula, Becca, Guest, and Lizzie (beautiful review, as usual :D) for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen- Unexpected Development**

Over the next couple of days, I was basically the definition of cliché. I moped around the flat in a zombie-like stupor. I listened to sad music, the stuff that people tended to listen to when they were broken-hearted. Or contemplating suicide. Or both. When I got bored of the sad songs, I switched to the angrier stuff that my friend Emma listened to, things like _Psychosocial _and _My Plague _by Slipknot and songs I didn't even know the names of, songs that were filled with guitars and bass and drums and people screaming by freaky-ass bands like Black Veil Brides and Bullet For My Valentine.

My mobile rang every couple of hours or so on Saturday and Sunday, but I ignored it. I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone. When I did eventually pick it up, early on Monday, I had sixteen new messages: six from Simon, two from Curtis, four from Kelly, three from Alisha and, perhaps most strangely of all, one from my mother.

I listened to Mum's voicemail, wondering what the hell she could possibly have to say to me. In my current state of mind, I almost started crying when I heard the familiar tones that I hadn't heard for months in my ear: "_Georgia, it's Mum. I know I'm probably the last person you want to hear from. But I heard about the accident at the community centre on the news, about the boy that died. He was one of your friends, wasn't he? Lola mentioned that you'd made friends with the people on your community service. Look, what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to suffer through your grief alone. Your dad and I talked, and we'd be happy to have you home for a couple of nights if you need someone to talk to. So text me, please. Bye._"

I put the phone down. Oh my God. Mum and Dad were actually willing to let me home for a few nights? I could see Charlie again?! I picked the phone again, about to ring Mum back and say that I would come home for a bit, but then I stopped and thought about it properly.

I could go back, and yeah, it would probably be fine for the first twelve or so hours. But then I had no doubt that Lola would scratch my nerves up the wrong way, and I'd probably fly off the handle. In my present mindset, I was like an unexploded bomb, just waiting for someone to say the wrong thing before I exploded. And then there was the other little detail.

What was the last thing my parents had said to me before I'd slammed my front door in their faces, waaay back in April? Oh yeah. "We don't want to see you ever again, Georgia." And what had I responded with? Oh right. "Don't worry. You won't have to, you stupid fucks."

Why should now be any different? Yeah, okay, so my best friend had died, but they didn't know that. All they knew was that somebody I may or may not have been friends with was dead. They didn't know that the grief was killing me. Was slowly eating me alive.

They didn't know that I was on my way to having a full-scale mental breakdown. That I was even more mentally unstable than ever, and probably even more of a 'danger' to have around Charlie, supposedly. And they also didn't know that I'd had a complete and utter rage attack Friday night which resulted in me now having to eat off paper plates and plastic disposable cups until I could afford to replace the broken crockery. Fun, fun, fun.

I picked up the mobile again and typed out two bleak little words: _No thanks_. I pressed send and quickly put the phone on silent in case Mum tried to ring again. I was in no mood, or fit state, to talk to her, as it would no doubt turn into a screaming match.

God, I was so sick of feeling like shit! It seriously wasn't a good look for me, what with the near-constant crying, the lack of make-up, or brushed hair, the fact the only thing I'd worn for two days were the same old sweatpants and t-shirt that really had seen better days.

But it was time to get over it, wasn't it? It was Monday morning. I had to get to the community centre, I had my community service…_Monday morning_?! Shit! I was supposed to be at the community centre at eight fifteen for an anger management session! Fuckfuckfuck! Okay, right, it was half seven now, so I had forty-five minutes until the session started, it would take about twenty minutes for me to run to the community centre, which left me twenty-five minutes to get ready.

Right, game on. It was time to put a fix to my face's weekend of neglection. I sat down at my dressing table, where the only mirror in the house now resided, and looked properly at myself. I had dark purple bags under my eyes, my eyes themselves were still slightly red from the forty-eight hours I'd spent crying, my hair hung in limp, unkempt strands around my face and my skin was pasty from lack of sleep.

God, I'd need foundation an inch thick to cover this up. It would be the only way to convince the others that I was totally fine, that I hadn't spent the weekend crying and I absolutely did not need any form of psychiatric help other than what I was already receiving.

Shower time. I gave myself ten minutes to be showered, and I set an alarm on my phone so I wouldn't take anymore time. I poured grapefruit shampoo on my head and scrubbed so hard it felt like I was going to remove the first three layers of skin on my scalp. I dressed hurriedly in a pair of black skinny jeans, a black vest top, a black cardigan and red Converses. Make-up…make-up…yeah, I was in desperate need of some of that.

Okay, so hair washed, clothes on, make-up painted. I really had to go. Now. Grabbing my bag from the sofa, I sprinted from the house like a frigging Olympic runner desperate for gold. Or in my case, not being late to a court-appointed therapy session. I was half-crippled with a stitch after about thirty seconds, proof I'd barely moved since Friday night.

Still, I made it to the community service in record-breaking time. Well, it took ten minutes, but still. For me that's like record-breaking time! I made it there by eight ten, sparing me five minutes to gather myself and return my breathing from 'person suffering from a serious asthma attack' to 'perfectly normal'. The community centre was obviously totally deserted when I went into the main hall, other than the silhouette of my anger management therapist, Marie, in the window of the probation office.

I forbade myself from looking up to where Nathan used to sleep. I knew the sight of him not being there would be too much, and I'd probably start crying again. Instead, I opened the office door and stood in the doorway until Marie noticed I was there.

"Ah, Georgia. Good morning," she said brightly. "Please come in and take a seat."

"Sure thing," I said, collapsing on the sofa. I stuck my arms over the back of the sofa and crossed my left leg over my right one to give the illusion that I was totally fine.

"So then Georgia. How are you feeling today?"

_I'm a mess. I'm half-suicidal. I feel damaged and broken. _"Fine, I guess."

"Are you sure about that? I understand that Nathan was a close friend of yours, and I'm sorry to hear about the loss his death must have brought you. I'm here to help you in any way I can."

"Are you?" I leaned forward slightly, crossing my arms in front of me as I did so. Marie nodded. "Then can you do this for me?"

"Do what?" Marie frowned.

"Bring Nathan back. Please. Just bring him back for me." Oh God, there was that too-familiar constricting feeling at the back of my throat. My voice cracked on the second 'back'. "Can you do that? Because that's literally the only way anyone is going to be able to help me now, Marie."

Marie sighed. I could tell she was searching for a way to put her usual positive spin on this. "Georgia, I…you know I can't do that. I'm sorry, it's impossible."

"I know," I whispered, tears beginning to trickle down my cheeks. "It's all impossible. Every thing that seems to happen to me is probably classed as 'impossible', but that hasn't stopped it from happening."

"What do you mean?" asked Marie.

"I can't tell you," I snivelled. "If I did, you'd think I was insane. Maybe I am. Maybe I _am_ going completely insane. If I told you what I was talking about, I'd probably get locked up in that mental institution again. I've already spent three days in that place, and I honestly can't think of anything worse. It was so dark, so depressing. I can't go back there, I just can't!"

"Georgia, nobody is going to send you back to the psychiatric unit," said Marie gently. "I just want to talk to you. You should know that by now, considering this is our seventh meeting together."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just feel like such _shit_," I sobbed. "I know all the others, Simon and Alisha and that, are all worried about me, and that makes me feel like I should put on a front to show them I'm fine, even though on the inside I'm practically dying. I haven't spoken to anyone all weekend, and on Friday night I had another one of my angry episodes and ended up breaking every single plate and bowl I owned, I cracked my mirror, not to mention the fact that I threw a carving knife at a picture on the wall and it stuck there."

"I see." Marie was scribbling down a _lot_ of notes for my file. "Georgia, have you considered going to bereavement counselling?"

"Yeah, I did, for like thirty seconds, before I decided against it. I just can't be bothered with anymore therapy than what I already receive. It's pointless enough as it is." I stood up and wiped the tears from my face, as usual being careful around my eyeliner. "Can I go now? Please? I think I'm close to having some kind of breakdown again and I don't really want you to see that."

Looking slightly at a loss for words, Marie just nodded. "Yes. I'll see you soon."

"Bye," I said, hurrying out of the office and heading to the locker rooms. The only person in there was Simon.

"Hi," he said when I walked in, looking a bit anxious.

"Hiya," I said, trying for a happier tone than the one I'd been using a few minutes earlier. "Are the others here as well?"

"Yes, they've already gone outside," he replied.

"Oh, right. Kay," I said, opening my locker and taking out my jumpsuit.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I answered quietly.

"Are you sure? Because you can tell me."

"I'm _fine_, Simon," I snapped. His face fell slightly. I probably should have felt bad, but to be honest I had bigger things to be worried about than whether or not I'd offended Simon.

"Okay then. I'll…see you outside then." Simon practically ran out of the locker room. Okay, now I did feel kinda bad. He was just trying to help me. Well, he bloody well should have, considering I was his fucking best friend! No, stop. I wasn't angry with Simon. I wasn't angry with anyone.

I was totally alone now Simon was gone, but to be honest I was kind of grateful he'd taken the initiative and left me by myself. I dressed slowly. We had no probation worker still, so it wasn't like I was keeping anyone waiting exactly.

I shut my locker with a bang, and found myself staring at Locker 45, which was Nathan's locker. It was like self-torture. Masochism or whatever it was called. God, was I that mentally unstable that I was really going to do this to myself?

As I jiggled the latch on the locker, the answer was yes, yes I was. His locker was empty, as I'd taken his bags back to my flat the day after he'd died. Well, almost empty. His jumpsuit hung from a hook, _COMMUNITY BLOWBACK _proudly on show for the world to see. I stared at the little smiley face drawn into the 'O' of the _BLOWBACK_, and my vision went fuzzy. Oh for fuck sake, I was going to start crying again. This wasn't fucking fair. Why was it _me _who had to suffer from the most grief?! Surely the others felt some form of remorse at all this? Why weren't _they_ all bursting into tears at random intervals?!

Urgh, fuck it. I brushed away the one tear that had managed to escape and clenched my hands into fists. Time to pull myself together and stop feeling sorry for myself. Nathan was dead, and no amount of screaming, crying and breaking things was going to change that, was it?

* * *

I leaned my head back against one of the concrete pillars outside, taking an extra long drag on my cigarette. I just needed five more minutes by myself, then I'd go and find the others. They'd understand why I was late. Simon had probably told them that I'd snapped at him.

I lifted my cigarette to my lips to take another drag…and abruptly dropped it when something very sharp hit me painfully in the eye.

"Ah! You motherfucker!" I hissed, clapping a hand to my eye, which had started watering. And for once, it was watering because I was genuinely in pain. _Jesus_, that stung!

I looked down to see what the hell had hit me, and saw a slightly crumpled paper aeroplane lying at my feet. Okay, what the actual fuck? I bent down and picked it up, unfolding it as I did so. There, stencilled onto the paper in black Sharpie, were the words _GO TO HIS GRAVE_.

Jesus Christ. This was a joke. It had to be. A really fucked up, sick joke. A joke that wasn't funny in the fucking slightest. I looked around me to see where it could have come from, but there was nobody about. Not one single person who could have thrown it at me. This was so weird. I had to show it to the others. Now.

I ran round to the front of the building, where Kelly, Alisha, Simon and Curtis were all standing by the railings, waiting for Sally Probation Worker, who _still_ hadn't turned up.

"Guys!" I shouted, rushing up to them. "Guys, guys, guys, guys!"

"What's up with you?" said Alisha, raising her eyebrows at me.

"Look at this!" I said urgently, stuffing the note into Simon's hand. His eyes skimmed the words in seconds.

"It could be a trap," he said, sounding fearful.

"Great. We're here five minutes and _already_ someone's setting a trap for us," said Alisha dismissively. "It's too early for this bullshit."

"It's a wind-up," agreed Curtis. "Who uses a paper aeroplane?"

"Someone who's looking to get one fucker of a slap from me," I said angrily.

"I don't think you should slap them!" said Simon seriously.

Curtis snorted. "To her that's like saying hello."

"Er, are you trying to say something?" I said angrily, my temper automatically flaring up.

"No," Curtis said with a slight roll of his eyes.

Just then, the front door of the community centre opened and some random guy that I'd never seen before walked out. He was probably in his late-thirties. He was tall, with a slim build and mousy hair that he wore slicked over his head. Urgh.

"Who are you?" demanded Alisha.

"I'm your new probation worker," replied the man shortly.

"Well what happened to the _other_ probation worker?" she retorted.

"Well apparently she's missing or something," the probation worker man answered, mimicking her tone. "Now. I know this is where I'm supposed to make a big speech about you paying your debt to society and making a difference, but seriously; we've all got things we'd rather be doing." He nodded his head at Simon. "Going to see your mates?" He looked at me. "Drinking until you're sick?" He smirked at Kelly. "A little recreational drug use?" He settled finally on Curtis. "Making love to your beautiful Italian girlfriend, yeah?" We all looked at him impassively. "I'm talking about me," the man elaborated stoutly. "Now let's just get through it and get out of here, alright?" He turned around and headed back inside, leaving the six of us in a kind of surprised silence.

The first to break out of it was Curtis. "That's different."

"You're telling me," I said with raised eyebrows. "I can't be the only one who seriously _was not _expecting that."

"D'ya reckon we were supposed ta follow 'im?" said Kelly.

"Makes sense," I said. "Come on. I see him as the kind of probation worker who wouldn't hesitate to backhand us for being late."

* * *

Hm, okay. So this was the last thing I was expecting to see on a Monday morning. The main hall had been overtaken by an overdose of paint, colouring pencils, easels and people at the easels. None of the people looked particularly…normal, so to speak. One of them was even having a conversation with the fruit bowl in front of them. Then again, who was I to talk about mental health?

Nearly all the people in the room were vaguely familiar. But why…? Aha! I almost clicked my fingers in realisation. I knew why I recognized most of them. They were all patients at the local psychiatric unit, the one I'd been sent to for tests a few months back. Oh God…I prayed none of them recognized me, or tried to talk to me. The only person that knew I'd been sent to the nuthouse was Simon, and I trusted that he hadn't told anyone.

"Who're they?" asked Curtis, looking around the room.

"It's an art therapy class," said the probation worker.

"Er, you mean they're mentals?" said Alisha shortly. _Ouch. I'll just pretend that __that__ didn't hurt. _I was being a bit unreasonable. Alisha didn't know that I'd technically been a 'mental'.

"D'you want to say that a bit louder?" the probation worker asked her sarcastically, leaning down to talk in her ear. "I don't think that weird-looking one at the back heard you." He was looking at a woman with huge eyes and straggly hair, who was muttering quite contentedly to herself.

"Look," continued the probation worker, sounding bored. "Just _try_ and treat them with some sensitivity and respect, yeah? Even that one." He pointed at a…larger woman who couldn't quite figure out which way up her easel was supposed to go. "D'you think you can manage that?"

I noticed one of the patients, a girl about our age with dark hair and eyes that wouldn't be out of place on a serial killer, look up at us. I recognized her the most. During my short stay at the psychiatric unit, the doctors had thrown me and this girl together as we were two of the youngest patients. Well, us and some boy. The girl had a name that began with an L…I almost clicked my fingers again. Lucy! Her name was Lucy. She looked at me. She must have recognized me as well, because she smiled slightly. I smiled hesitantly back, until I realised she wasn't looking at me, but at Simon. Why?

"Er, what exactly do you want us to do?" I asked the probation worker, in an attempt to drag us all back to the reason we were here- community service.

He looked around the room, before his eyes settled on that hideous-looking mural one of the walls to the right. "Well for starters, you can paint over that piece of shit." He gave us all a cocky grin and sauntered off in the general direction of the probation office.

"I think we should do it," I said to the others in hushed tones once we'd got stuck into painting. "Tonight."

"Are you sure Georgia?" said Alisha. "I mean, I'm not being funny but the last time you were by Nathan's grave you looked like you were gonna pass out."

"Look," I said impatiently. "Whoever sent that note must've had some kind of reason."

"Or it's just some prick dicking around with us," said Curtis fairly.

"Or it might be someone telling us something we don't know!" I said, glaring. "We need to see what all this shit is about!"

"Alright. Jesus, no need to rip my head off," said Curtis. "And would it kill you to smile a couple of times?"

I bared my teeth in such a stiff smile I swear you could hear the muscles crack. "Maybe."

"I think we should go too," said Simon quietly.

"Er, I thought you thought it was a trap?" demanded Alisha.

"Well…maybe Georgia's right," stuttered Simon. "Maybe the person who sent this note knows something we don't."

"I agree wiv 'em bof," said Kelly in a final kind of tone. "We may as well see wot the fock dis is all about."

"Thank you," I said, defiantly folding my arms, accidentally splattering black paint down my arm. "So it's settled. We're going. No arguments, no exceptions."

Nobody had anything else to say, and we continued our painting in a somewhat awkward silence. Soon after this, Simon dropped his brush back into the paint pot and started walking away.

"Simon?" I called after him. "Where are you going?"

"To the, er…toilet!" was his slightly suspicious-sounding reply. And so we were back to the 'Simon is so obviously hiding something' problem again. I was _so_ going to find out what this was about.

* * *

So this hadn't been one of my better ideas. An hour or so after community service ended, the five of us had headed to the graveyard to see if anything would come of the mystery note. We'd been here for about twenty minutes, just gathered around Nathan's grave, waiting for something, _anything _to happen.

What was I expecting? Honestly, I didn't know. I was just hoping that something would occur that wouldn't make this trip a totally pointless waste of an evening. The breeze blew bitterly, making me clutch my cardigan tighter around me as I stared relentlessly at the _IN LOVING MEMORY OF NATHAN YOUNG_ carved into the gravestone.

"Well this is a complete waste of time," said Alisha abruptly.

"I'm sorry. I thought…I thought something would happen," I said lamely. "I thought…I don't know what I thought." Alisha gave me a pitying look before starting to walk off. Curtis followed her, and Kelly started to walk off as well.

Simon put his hand on my arm. "Georgia, come on. We should go."

I nodded silently. I'd been wrong. Nathan was still dead, and that note had meant nothing, which made me want to hunt the person who'd sent it down and stick a lighted firework up their arse.

However, as we started to walk away, Kelly stopped unexpectedly. She turned back towards the grave and suddenly said, "Nathan?" I stopped as well, because it didn't sound like she was just randomly announcing his name. No. It sounded like she was calling him.

"Kel, what is it?" I asked her immediately.

"'E's alive!" she exclaimed. "Nathan's alive! I can 'ear 'is forts!"

"You what? Are you serious?" I demanded. She nodded. Oh God, this couldn't be possible. It _couldn't_. Could it? I had to check, I had to know! "We need shovels. _Now_."

It was suddenly like everyone was put on autopilot. We found an old abandoned caretaker's hut, and I wasted no time using a rock to bust open the padlock. Inside, we found a shovel. Only _one_. Okay, so that would mean it would take a little extra time to dig. It was fine, I could wait. I hoped.

Curtis and Simon took it in turns to dig, and I helped by using a flat stone I'd found to push the dirt away. It took an hour and a half to dig the grave, according to my phone. Every time I'd go to check how long it had been, I was greeted by a grinning Harley Quinn. It was fine for her. She was so insane that she was happy practically all the fucking time. Oh God, I was becoming resentful towards comic book characters. _Get a grip! Argh! __Someone get that fucking coffin open and put my mind at rest!_

The second we were able to haul the coffin out of the grave, I jumped in and started yanking, ignoring the mud that splattered up my jeans. The others helped me get the coffin out, and my Jesus, it was heavy as fuck. We dumped it on the grass with a loud _thud_, and Curtis used the shovel to prise off the lid.

There he was. My heart sank as I took in the sight of a clearly-still-dead Nathan. He hadn't changed position since I'd seen him open-casket on Friday: his eyes were still closed, face still set in a tranquil, sleepy expression. Of course it was. If you were dead, you didn't change expressions, did you?

"He's dead," said Curtis, as if we needed reminding.

"Yeah, cheers for that," I snapped. "I can see that he's dead. Do I really need reminding?"

"I 'eard 'im," insisted Kelly. "I fink 'e was knockin' one out."

"That does sound like him," said Simon.

"Maybe you just _wanted _to hear him," Alisha suggested gently. "He's gone."

"I fockin' 'eard 'im!" said Kelly. "I swear!"

"Oh, for fuck sake!" I said in exasperation. I moved over to the head of the coffin, and I leaned over to check for Nathan's pulse at his neck, but before I could actually touch him-

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Nathan screamed, sitting bolt up right. All of us made some noise of screeching shock, all of us stumbling backwards away from the coffin.

"Holy shit!" I shrieked, toppling head-over-heels backwards over a gravestone and landing with my legs sticking in the air, cracking my head on a rock as I did so.

"What the fuck?!" shouted Curtis as Simon took my arm and helped me to my feet.

Nathan was just sitting in his coffin, laughing at us. Holy. Mother. Of. Fucking. Shit. This was impossible. Nathan was…alive. Like, totally, completely alive. As in, he was breathing and moving and talking and stuff. _How_?!

"You should see the looks on your faces!" he cackled. "Classic! Hey, guess what? I'm immortal!" That was how. "Can you believe this shit? I told you I had a power!" He slowly stood up, making a show of cracking his back as he did so. "Looks like they saved the best till last, huh? Immortality, that's off the A-list!"

"YOU TWAT! YOU TOTAL WANKER!" I screamed, throwing myself at him, suddenly completely losing it. As usual. "I FUCKING THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME, YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER SELFISH PRICK!?" I was punching every part of him that I could reach.

"Woah, easy! Jesus Christ!" he cried, grabbing hold of my hands to stop me from causing him anymore unnecessary pain.

I ripped my hands out of his and glared at him. I looked wildly around until I noticed the mud-crusted shovel that Curtis had abandoned on the ground after he'd forced open the coffin lid. I walked over to it and picked it up. "I'm gonna fucking _kill_ you for doing this to me!"

I advanced closer to Nathan, but Kelly and Curtis were fast than me. Before I could deliver any form of hit to him with the shovel, Curtis had wrapped his arms around my waist to stop me jumping Nathan and Kelly pulled the shovel out of my hands.

Nathan raised his hands above his head like he was surrendering. "Er, immortal, remember? You can't kill me!" I kicked him in the shin, hard. "Alright, alright! Calm down! What the fuck has gotten into _you_?!"

"What's gotten into me?!" I shrieked, throwing another punch at his shoulder. "YOU LET US THINK YOU WERE DEAD! YOU LET _ME_ THINK YOU WERE DEAD!"

The next slap I delivered to his chest smoked slightly, leaving a small black scorch mark on the white t-shirt he was wearing. Nathan noticed it as well and closed his hands around my wrists, the way people do when they try to restrain a small child.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, alright?" he said resolutely. Our eyes locked. Oh God, I suddenly wanted to kiss him so badly.

"If you're not dead, how come you smell so bad?" I asked, wrinkling my nose slightly as a truly foul smell invaded my nostrils.

"I appear to have shat myself," Nathan clarified, sounding ridiculously proud of it. Urgh.

"That's fucking rank," I said disgustedly, stepping back from him.

"Were you having a wank in there?" demanded Alisha.

"Yeah, so what if I was?" challenged Nathan. "A man can't enjoy a quick shuffle in his own coffin? It's not like I was expectin' visitors." He turned to Simon, acting like it was the first time he'd actually paid attention to him. "You! You little freak! What was all that up on the roof of the community centre?!"

"I was trying to save you," mumbled Simon, sounding guilty.

"Well you failed, _spectacularly_, didn't you?" he accused.

"Leave him alone, Nathan!" I warned. "It's not his fault you're so heavy that he couldn't hold on to you for long enough."

"Oi. Who're you callin' heavy?" he said prissily. He absent-mindedly rubbed his stomach. "I need to eat. Has anyone got a kebab?"

"Do you want some chewing gum?" asked Simon, apparently eager to do anything that would drag the attention away from the fact he cocked up.

"_Tutti Frutti_?" Nathan said disparagingly.

"I like it!" said Simon, slightly defensively.

Nathan heaved a heavy sigh and snatched the gum from Simon's hand, winding in about five strips of the stuff. "Man, it was a bad scene in there. I thought I was gonna starve to death!"

"You're immortal! You can't starve to death!" said Curtis, sounding annoyed. Well, it didn't take long for his dislike of Nathan to come speeding back.

"You're an expert, are ya?" asked Nathan obnoxiously.

"So wot are ya gonna do now?" said Kelly expectantly.

"I should probably go tell my mum that I'm immortal," he said, sticking yet another strip of gum in his already-overstuffed mouth. However, as he said this, he was looking at me, an unreadable expression on his face.

_Kelly, if you can hear me, I really need to talk to Nathan. Can you get everyone to leave?_ I thought, and I saw Kelly give a barely-discernable nod of the head.

"So, are we done 'ere?" she asked, tapping her foot in mock-impatience. "'Cause I'm dead tired. I fink I'm gonna go 'ome." She gave Alisha a pointed look, the kind that only a girl would understand, which I was grateful for, considering all the guys were looking at her.

"Yeah, me too. See you guys tomorrow," said Alisha, starting to walk off and pulling a confused-looking Curtis after her. Kelly nodded at me, and followed them, and she was followed by Simon, who looked as though he was going to ask me to come with them, but had decided against it.

"Well," said Nathan sarcastically as we watched the group's retreating figures. "It's nice to know that I was so sorely missed by you lot."

"I missed you," I said quietly.

"Yeah, you've shown that nicely, by tryin' to kill me with a fuckin' spade!" he quipped.

"Oh for God's sake, can you take anything seriously?" I asked. He was about to reply, when I suddenly threw myself at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his head down to meet mine, and I kissed him.

* * *

_"But you,  
Make me wanna act like a girl,  
Paint my nails and wear high heels.  
Yes you,  
Make me so nervous,  
That I just can't hold your_ _hand."_  
**-Demi Lovato, "Heart Attack"**

* * *

**A/N- Da da da daaa! There it is- the kiss! I hope you liked the chapter, as I tried to make it funny, but also with the seriousness as well. Let me know, you guys! Reviews! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- So I don't get sued or anything, the '"Would it kill you to smile?" "Maybe."' was a reference to the TV show **_**Teen Titans**_** episode **_**Date With Destiny**_**.**


	19. It's All About Us

**A/N- Okay guys, after this chapter there is a very high chance I'll only be able to update a couple of times every week, because I'm back to school now. :( **

**Thanks epically to Becca, Beebopalula, Guest 1, Vany, Mary, Guest 2, Cii (x4), TARDISbluecolour and Guest 3 (what an opinion, man! Love it!) for reviewing! You guys are all great, this is the most reviews I've ever gotten for a single chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen- It's All About Us**

To say Nathan seemed stunned would be a slight understatement. For a second, he didn't even move. However, he soon got over it and responded to the kiss with passion I didn't think was possible for a boy. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and my hands knotted in his curly hair. Our tongues battled wildly, and I had to break away because I had forgotten to breathe.

In the few seconds I took to allow my lungs to refill with oxygen, Nathan manoeuvred me backwards, pressing me up against the wall of a smallish mausoleum. He made a trail of kisses from my jaw line down to my shoulder, slipping off my cardigan as he did so. Great, so that was going to be covered in mud and grass.

My breathing was coming out in pants, and I was desperately trying to gather my thoughts. Nathan, however, was doing absolutely nothing to help this. That was when my surroundings came crashing back down around me. I was in a cemetery. I was pretty sure that making out over the remains of dead people was probably kind of disrespectful.

Nathan looked at me, his eyes searching my face as if he was looking for a reason as to why I had stopped the kiss. He didn't bother asking me what was going on. Instead, he leaned forward, resting his forehead on mine and said, "Okay, so that was one way to show me you missed me."

I grinned at him, chewing my gum. Wait a second. Chewing my gum? I hadn't been chewing…oh my God. _Gross_. I opened my mouth and spat out the giant wodge of Tutti Frutti as Nathan laughed at me. "That was disgusting. See what I mean? You can't take anything seriously," I said teasingly.

"Hey! I can take things seriously!" he protested with a grin. He used his hand to tip my face up, leaning down to kiss me again. This one was slow and gentle, as opposed to being frenzied and kind of uncoordianted. When he pulled away after about thirty seconds, I realised I was crying again. Jesus Christ, what the fuck was wrong with me?

"Are you cryin'?!" Nathan said, sounding panicked. One of his arms was still tight around my waist, the other leaning on the mausoleum wall, angled above my head. I nodded. "Right, I don't wanna sound insensitive or nothin', but why the fuck are you cryin'?!"

"I don't know," I said, feeling the tears drip silently down my face.

"Oh come on Scorch! This is supposed to be one of them happy, reunion-type things, right!? I'm not dead, it's all good!" Nathan cupped my face in his hands, wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

"That's it. I thought you were _dead_, Nathan. I thought that I'd never see you again," I said, sniffing.

"Oh God. You're one of those girls that cries when she's happy, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Is it obvious?"

"Look, you don't need to cry, do ya?" he said, sounding perplexed. "If it's any consolation for you, I didn't think I'd ever see you again either. I thought I'd be trapped in that fuckin' coffin for like, ever. None of you lot were smart enough to think of buryin' me with my phone. Some genius just went with the iPod, which was nice and all, but it's got no bloody mobile service."

"Oi! That genius was me, you prick," I said, lightly kicking his leg.

"So if you're cryin' now, then you must've cried at my funeral," he teased. "C'mon, Scorch, admit it!"

"Of course I did. I mean…yeah, a bit," I said casually.

"I bet there were loads of girls there, all cryin', wishin' they'd shagged me while I was still alive! Too late ladies! This ship has sailed!"

"Dear God, you are such a dickhead."

"Oh, I missed you too," he said mockingly.

"Do you _really _want to have this conversation now? In a graveyard?" I said, gesturing around me from my position pressed against the wall. "I thought you were trying for seriousness and all that?"

"Oh come on! I'm not good with all this serious girls shit, and relationships and that." There was a slight pause. "I fancy you, alright?"

I snorted. "Jesus, Nathan, could you have done that anymore unromantically?"

"Oh, shut up. Obviously you fancy me, given the whole-" he leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. "-thing. So, the question is, when are we gonna seal the deal? 'Cause I'm thinkin' it's gonna happen. I know it, you know it, they know it!" He nodded his head in the general direction the others had ambled off in.

"Nathan, will you shut up for thirty seconds?" I managed to interject. He just looked at me expectantly. "Fine! Tonight!"

"What?" Nathan sounded taken slightly aback. "Seriously? Just like that? You and me are gonna-?" He made a slightly inappropriate facial expression that involved him biting his lip and thrusting his hips into mine.

"Yeah, just like that. Well, on a couple of conditions."

"Oh fuck. What?"

"I'm pretty sure I've told you this before, but I don't do one night stands. I don't do casual sex, and I _so_ do not do that whole 'friends with benefits' shit because that is just tacky with a capital T," I explained determinedly. "I think you said before that I was naïve for still believing in relationships, but you were right about one thing- I'm young. I want to have relationships before I fall down into that deep, dark, despairing tunnel of sleeping around, alright? And I want to be in a relationship before I sleep with someone. They're my conditions, take 'em or leave 'em."

An awkward silence. I could practically hear the cogs in Nathan's brain grinding away as he processed what I'd said. He'd been resurrected all of forty-five minutes, and I'd already demanded commitment from him. Well, if that wasn't a way to scare a boy off, nothing was. I mentally scolded myself for being such a prick. _I may as well just leave right now. He's probably just trying to work out a way to let me down easily_.

"Yeah, alright," Nathan said finally. "Yeah. It's worth giving this thing some kind of fuckin' go."

I blinked. _Or not_. "You know, I'd be a lot more flattered if I didn't know you just quoted Gaz from _Geordie Shore_," I said with a giggle.

"Did I?" Nathan frowned. "I don't watch that crap."

"Hey! Don't dis the Geordies, man! I love that show!"

"You can't be fuckin' serious. I'm gonna have to seriously revise callin' you my girlfriend if you watch that kinda shit."

"I don't recall saying I wanted to be your girlfriend," I teased.

"What the fuck? Wasn't that what you were bleatin' on about?" he demanded. "All that shit about sex and relationships? Jesus Christ, Scorch, you aren't half sendin' out some mixed messages here!"

"Oh calm down Nathan, I was just dicking with you," I laughed. "Don't shit yourself."

"So you are my girlfriend?" He sounded so confused, bless him.

"Depends on whether you're my boyfriend."

"Okay. Fine. Yeah," he said, sounding slightly exasperated. "Let's do this. But seriously, the whole 'boyfriend, girlfriend' thing is kinda new to me, so give me a second to get used to it, alright?"

"Sure thing. Y'know, if it helps, you're the first boyfriend I've had since I was sixteen."

"Seriously?" he asked. I nodded. "You're basically a virgin!"

"Oh yeah, cheers for that," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Don't worry. I can fix that," he murmured, kissing me again. I brought my hands up and laced them together at the back of his neck. He lifted me up slightly, the toes of my red Converse skimming the grass. However, I soon pulled away because, despite having very low morals, I figured that shagging in a graveyard was probably classed as light necrophilia or something.

"I'm sure you can, but not now," I said resolutely. "You need to go and see your mum."

"Yeah, and I will. Later. I mean, it ain't exactly like she's waitin' for me."

"Nathan," I said firmly. "Go and see your mother. If anyone should have to wait for you, it's me, and I'm not going anywhere in the next few hours other than home."

"So you want me to go to my mum's, explain to her that I'm immortal, then what? Whatever happened to 'Fine! Tonight!'?" he demanded.

"Jesus, one track mind, much?" I said. "Come to my house afterwards. But _please_, just go see your mum. She's probably still devastated."

"Urgh. Fine, yeah, I'll do that," Nathan grumbled. "So I guess this is a case of 'to be continued' then?"

"Yeah, I guess it is."

The two of us made our way out of the graveyard hand-in-hand, my hand fitting snugly in his. When we got to the cemetery gates, Nathan turned to me and said, "So you're _sure_ you want me to go see my mum? 'Cause I'm sure she won't mind waitin' a bit longer."

"Just go, you prick," I said with a roll of my eyes, but I leaned up and quickly kissed him to show I was joking. "I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" As the two of us headed in opposite directions, I turned back and shouted, "Oh, Nathan? I've got another condition!"

"Fuckin' hell," he shouted back. "What?"

"You've got to stop calling me Scorch! Use my real name!"

"Seriously?" he practically whined. I nodded. "Alright, fine! But you've gotta stop tryin' to change me so much, woman!"

"It's what I'm here for!"

* * *

Back at my flat, I threw myself into a cleaning frenzy. Now I'd been abruptly jolted out of my depressive state, the flat seemed a lot more in focus. And it was a shit-tip. There were dirty paper plates lying in uneven piles on the worktop (I really did need to get round to replacing the tableware…), a bunch of forks were lying abandoned and unwashed in the sink, I still hadn't taken down the picture with the mahoosive knife-tear in it and when I went in my bedroom there was a pile of dirty laundry on the floor.

In short, it looked like a homeless person had been squatting here. Hell, a hobo would've probably kept it cleaner.

_Jesus Christ…_I thought, running a hand through my hair. Why was I feeling so stressed? It wasn't like I had anything to worry about. Okay, so in the space of about an hour and a half I'd gone from manic depression to manic happiness, someone I had thought was gone forever had been frigging raised from the dead and I'd acquired a boyfriend. My life was basically ideal. At least…I assumed Nathan was my boyfriend. The massive speeches on both our parts seemed to clarify that nicely. Boyfriend. Now that was a word I hadn't used for a while.

I quickly pushed the dirty clothes under the bed, as I doubted anyone would go under there, somehow, before going into the living room/kitchen and dumping all the paper plates in the bin. I really needed to order some new stuff- I couldn't spend the rest of the week eating off cardboard.

I sat down on the sofa, laptop on my knees, wondering when Nathan would come round. He had asked me to go with him to his mum's, but I figured that a 'return from the dead' reunion between mother and son was something best for them to do alone. But still…after thinking he was dead for those few days, I didn't really like being away from him. Oh God. Please tell me I wasn't turning into one of them cling-on girlfriend. Time to snap out of _that_ before I turned into some kind of Post-it Note girlfriend.

I scrolled through my Facebook and Twitter pages quickly, before going on Amazon to order a new load of plates. Great, I was buying more things with money I should have been saving for nice stuff. Like shoes. God, I needed a job, and badly too. There was no point me even trying to get a job until community service was over though, because my time was all accounted for with hours of cleaning up litter, scraping dog shit off the pavement and, currently, redecorating the community centre.

I looked at the clock. It was eight o'clock, an hour and a half since Nathan and I parted at the graveyard gates. Alright, that was to be expected. It wasn't exactly like Nathan could walk into his Mum's house, announce he was immortal and not expect there to be some kind of fallout of nuclear bomb-type proportions.

It was then that I realised I was seriously hungry. I hadn't eaten since…wow. I hadn't had anything to eat since six o'clock yesterday evening, and even then it had only been half a cheese and onion sandwich. I grabbed myself a strawberry yoghurt and an apple to tide myself over for the rest of the evening, as I didn't think I could stomach a meal.

I seriously needed to chill the fuck out. I swear I was going literally insane. Like, even more than I had been before. For like, no reason. To be honest, I'm amazed I didn't do that thing insane people do when they just burst into spontaneous, hysterical laughter. Like The Joker did. What was I even talking about anymore? _Seriously, get a grip, for fuck sake. If you keep acting like this, you'll scare him off before you've even had one day together. _I hated to admit it, but the freaky, borderline-schizo voice in my head was right.

Half past eight. No Nathan.

Nine o'clock. Still no Nathan.

Half past nine. Nathan still a no-show.

Ten o'clock. Nothing.

At half ten, I gave up any hope I had that he was coming. Maybe his mum had asked him to stay the night. I couldn't really begrudge that, considering the fact that his mother, like me, had thought him dead and buried. I turned my TV off, cutting off _Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith _halfway through. I mooched into my bedroom and stripped out of my skinny jeans and vest (I'd already abandoned the mud-stained cardigan in the washing machine), leaving them on the floor as I did so. I rummaged through my pyjama drawer, in the end settling for a pair of black silk night-shorts edged with hot pink lace and a matching vest. It was the first nice thing I'd worn to sleep in since the night Nathan had died.

I washed the make-up off my face, put on my '_Do Not Disturb: Dreams In Progress_' sleepmask and climbed into bed, pulling the Batman duvet cover my head as I did so. I had to admit, I was slightly disappointed that Nathan hadn't come round, but oh well. There was always tomorrow.

* * *

_Crash crash crash. Bang bang bang._

I scrambled into a sitting position, opened my eyes and screamed. I was blind! Oh my God! Oh no. Wait. The sleepmask, right. I pushed the mask up onto my forehead and rubbed my eyes.

_Bang crash whack_. Who the fuck was trying to knock down my door at- I looked at my alarm clock- half past midnight? "Scor- Georgia! Open the fuckin' door!" Nathan, that was who.

I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the front door, pulling on a pair of slippers as I did so. I undid all three bolts on the door and stood to the side, letting Nathan squeeze in through the gap.

"You took your fuckin' time," he grumbled, leaning against the hallway wall. "I've been out there bloody fifteen minutes. What took so long?"

I gestured at my pyjamas and slippers. "I was in bed, you twat."

"Whatever happened to waitin' up for me?" he demanded.

"Er, I did. Till like ten. It was then that I assumed you were staying at your mum's for the night, and I went to bed. What took _you_ so long?"

"Mum did ask me to stay the night, y'know," he said distractedly. "I was all ready to leave her's at just gone eleven when she dumped it on me."

"How'd you get out of that then?"

"I told her I had a very distressed girlfriend to see. That piece of information, of course, brought on like an hour's worth of questioning from her."

"Oh God." I could practically feel myself blanch. "Like what?"

"The usual," he said with a shrug. "What's your name, where'd I meet you, what're you like, blah blah blah."

"Please tell me you didn't tell her the truth."

"No, I told her your name was Gretchen, I met you at the library, and that you're sweet, caring and perfectly sane," he said sarcastically. Then he grinned. "Of course I told her the fuckin' truth. Well, minus the fact that you're in therapy."

"Oh thank fuck," I said with a sigh of relief. "How'd she deal with the whole 'immortality' thing?"

"Well, she screamed a bit, and then she fainted. She cracked her head on the radiator on the way down, and I think she may have lost a tooth or two."

"Jesus!" I exclaimed, putting a hand over my mouth. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. So are you done with the psychoanalysis?" he asked, putting his hands on my hips and pulling me towards him. "Because I'm pretty sure there was somethin' we were meant to be doin'." He leaned in closer, our mouths literally a centimetre apart.

"Was there?" I feigned confusion. "I can't remember. You'll have to remind me." Nathan grinned at me and closed the gap between our lips, giving me a very heated kiss.

"Oh right," I murmured against his mouth. "That was it." Nathan's mouth moved from my lips to my neck, making nipping little kisses, his hands trailing up and down my sides.

"Wait a second," he said suddenly, pulling away.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not about to do anythin' drastic, am I?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno. I'm not about to like, take your virginity, or anythin'?"

"Nathan, you know I'm not a virgin."

"Yeah, but thinkin' about it, you _were _one of them Virtue twats. I didn't know if you'd been re-hymenated or somethin'."

"You seriously have no filter on your brain, do you? Why would you even _consider _asking that?"

"Hey, just checkin'!" he said defensively. "But if that's not the case…" He suddenly picked me up, hauling me into his arms in a cradling stance, like you did with a baby. I enclosed my arms around his neck, and our lips joined into a passionate kiss as he carried me into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us.

* * *

The sunlight burned the bare skin of my back that was exposed from the duvet, turning the insides of my eyelids red. I stretched slightly, opening my eyes and rolling over. Well, the bedroom looked slightly different to how it had twenty-four hours earlier.

One of my black curtains had been ripped off the curtain rail and was now dumped on the floor, clothes that weren't mine were strewn across the floor and my pyjama vest lie at the foot of the bed in a torn wreck. Oh, and the biggest, most obvious difference? The sleeping figure of Nathan Young lying next to me.

So last night had been…how should I put this? Frantic? High-spirited? Lively? Well, you get the idea. I'm not going to be one of those sad-saps who goes on about how 'beautiful' it was because I'd be lying. To be honest, it had been frenzied and a bit clumsy.

Once Nathan had shut the door, he lowered my down to the floor, neither of us ever breaking the kiss. His hands had made their way under my vest top and were trying to pull it off as I removed his hoodie for him and began pulling at his t-shirt. It had been kind of romantic until Nathan had gotten my vest caught on my arms and, in the process of trying to tug it off had accidentally ripped it down the middle. To top it all off, Nathan's t-shirt had then got hooked on his head as I'd tried to pull it off.

I supposed it had been rather cute, really, the fact that the two of us were so nervous that we were fucking up something so easy. But eventually, the t-shirt came off and Nathan discarded my torn vest onto the bed, grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me in for another kiss. We backed up slightly, but I had then tripped on the shorts around my ankles and fallen back into the window, pulling on one of the drawn curtains to steady myself. However, instead of steadying me, the curtain had come off in my hand and I'd tumbled to the floor, accidentally bringing Nathan down with me, and the two of us had landed in a heap of tangled limbs and giggles on the floor.

But eventually, we managed to make our way to the bed and, well…I'll leave the rest to your imagination. It's not that hard to work it out if you really want to (not that I can see _why_ you'd want to, you dirty little pervert!). And afterwards, I'd fallen asleep in Nathan's arms, feeling warm and happy that something had gone right for a change.

I sat up and noiselessly slipped out of bed, being careful to not wake Nathan. A quick look at my alarm clock told me it was just gone seven AM, meaning we had plenty of time to get ready. I tiptoed over to my wardrobe and shrugged on my Wonder Woman dressing gown, tying the belt tightly around me. I went to make my way into the living room, but I unintentionally cracked my hip on my dressing table, knocking over several different bottles of perfume and foundation with a very large resounding crash.

I looked back to the bed, and Nathan rolled over, giving me a slow, lazy grin. "Mornin'."

"Hey," I said, perching on the dressing table stool.

"Y'know, I think I should die more often if that's the 'welcome back' I'm gonna get," he said with a wink.

"Funny," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"You should really consider movin' somewhere with thicker walls, by the way," he advised, sitting up and stretching.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"With all that moanin' goin' on," he drawled. "You didn't hear whoever lives next door start bangin' on the connectin' wall-" he tapped on the wall by his head. "-shoutin', and I quote, "Shut the fuck up and go to sleep, it's fuckin' half past two in the mornin'". Seriously, whoever it was wasn't happy." He laughed.

"Jesus," I said, blushing. "If that's not embarrassing, I don't know what is. You'd think I'd've heard that, really."

"Nah, you were seriously preoccupied." Cue suggestive eyebrow wag.

"I'm more than aware of that," I said, slightly snippily. I stood up, stretching as I did so. "Come on. We've got a couple of hours before we need to be at the community centre, so we can get some breakfast." I threw his discarded jeans at him, which he caught.

"Righto. Oh, and by the way love, you might wanna look in the mirror. You've got a little something there," he said with a yawn, pointing at his neck.

My eyebrows knitted together in puzzlement. I turned to my mirror, and was met with the sight of a very purple lovebite on my neck. "Nice. Cheers for that, Nathan. Doesn't that just _scream_ classy."

He smirked. "It's a good look for you, if it helps."

"Not really. Seriously, how obvious is it gonna be to the others?!" I said. "I may as well walk into the community centre with a neon sign attached to my head that says _I HAVE JUST HAD SEX WITH NATHAN YOUNG_."

"Are you willin' to do that?"

"No." I gave him a withering look. "I mean, they'll find out eventually, obviously. But I'd rather it was because we told them, not because I've swanned into the community centre with a gigantic hickey on my neck."

"Don't pretend you don't love it," he said with a grin. "It's like a medal. You should be proud of it, love."

"I'll try to be," I said sarcastically, moving towards the door. I paused, my hand on the door handle. "You might want to consider getting changed, by the way. It's cold out here."

* * *

Once the typical morning tasks of breakfast, showering and dressing were done and out of the way, Nathan and I made our way slowly to the community centre. We were quiet for the first five or ten minutes, which was a new one for the two of us. For once, neither of us really knew what to say.

"So listen," I said suddenly, stopping in my tracks.

Nathan, who had been a step or two ahead of me, stopped as well and turned around to face me. "What? Is this gonna be another one of them bloody 'heart-to-heart' things?"

"Not really," I said. "I just want to know what's gonna happen now. Did you mean what you said yesterday? About the whole me and you, boyfriend-girlfriend thing?"

"Look, I know I'm not exactly the most romantic of guys, but come on Georgia. I can be serious. Sorta." He suddenly grabbed hold of the tops of my arms, pulling me in for a slightly rough kiss. I placed my hands on his shoulders, deepening the kiss.

"Okay, so I'm gonna take that as a yes," I said, slightly breathlessly, once we broke apart. I smiled at Nathan, and he gave me that trademark cocky grin back.

As we approached the community centre, Nathan suddenly looped his arm around my waist, slightly possessively. I didn't care, I just snuggled in closer. It felt right.

* * *

"_The room's hush-hush,  
And now it's our moment.  
Take it in, feel it all and hold it.  
Eyes on you, eyes on me,  
We're doing this right."  
_**-He Is We ft. Owl City, "All About Us"**

* * *

**A/N- I hope you liked it! I'm not so sure myself, I think it might ramble slightly? Especially that middle bit. I'd love for you guys to let me know, you were amazing with reviews on the last chapter! I'd love that again! Xx Gee xX**


	20. Take Two

**A/N- So, guess who's passed 4,000 views? Oh yeah, ME! Woohoo! Thanks so much to Guest 1, Guest 2, idk i'm shy, Guest 3 and Gwenlynn for the reviews!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty- Take Two**

_Please let us be the first ones here, __please __let us be the first ones here_, I chanted in my head as Nathan and I walked into the almost-silent community centre. It's wasn't that I was embarrassed to be seen arriving with Nathan, I'd done that before, it was just that I didn't want the others working everything out so obviously.

How were we going to break it to them? I didn't want this to be a secret relationship or some shit like that, I wanted everyone to know about us, but I was seriously unsure as to how to tell them.

Then again, it wasn't going to be that hard for them to work it out. The two of us arriving hand-in-hand would be enough. Combine that with the lovebite on my neck (I'd desperately tried to cover it with foundation, but it was still quite obviously there, mores the irritation) and you got one hell of a blatant relationship goin' down.

As I reached to open the door of the locker room, Nathan suddenly grabbed hold of me and pulled me in for a kiss. Automatically, my arms went around his neck to intensify the kiss. I took a step backwards and accidentally fell into the door, which burst open. I stumbled, falling through the door, bringing Nathan with me. My back slammed into one of the lockers, and a metallic clang rang through the locker room.

So did shocked laughter. The others were already here. _Ah, crap_.

"Er, Georgia? Nathan? What the _fuck_?" came Alisha's amused-sounding voice.

The two of us untangled ourselves from around each other, turning to face the group as we did so. They were all in varying states of being changed for the day, each of them leaning against their lockers. Except for Simon, who was just looking. Alisha was smirking at us, Curtis raised his eyebrows expectantly, Kelly was grinning at us and Simon…Simon wasn't really doing anything other than looking slightly discontented.

"Hi, guys," I said, faux-cheerily, waving sheepishly at them.

"You got anything you want to tell us?" said Curtis, gesturing at the space between Nathan and I.

"Er…Mum smokes in the car. Jesus is okay with it, but don't tell Dad!" I said quickly, then mentally face palmed. What the fuck had I just said.

Curtis kind of blinked. "Funny."

"Wot's that on ya neck, Georgia?" asked Kelly, sounding like she was suppressing a laugh.

I self-consciously raised a hand and covered the offending mark, elbowing Nathan as he snorted. "It's a…um…bruise?" I voiced it as more of a question.

"A bruise? Bullshit," said Alisha.

"Hey! I will not have you usin' language like that when referrin' to me girlfriend," Nathan said, in false defense, draping an arm around my shoulders. I made a low groan of annoyance as the others all displayed varying expressions of _Knew it_.

"Girlfriend?" repeated Curtis, for no actual reason as I could tell they'd all been expecting it. _Well, may as well tell them now._

"Yeah, Curtis, _girlfriend_," I enunciated, moving to my locker and opening it to get changed. "Since I'm not the boy in this relationship, I am indeed what is often to referred to as a 'girlfriend'. Alisha's yours, just like I'm Nathan's."

"So when did this happen?" demanded Alisha.

"Yesterday," I said with a shrug. "It was slightly cliché-induced, but hey-ho. There you have it."

"Hey, what're you callin' cliché-induced?" said Nathan indignantly. "If I remember correctly, which I do, you were _not _complain' about it bein' 'cliché-induced' when you were beggin' me to-"

"Okay, so we'll stop that sentence _right _there," I interrupted, as all the others spluttered with laughter. Nathan flashed me a smug grin as he moved to get changed as well. "God, you're a dickhead."

"You weren't sayin' that last night," he quipped.

"Urgh, Jesus!" groaned Kelly. "I fink we've 'eard enough of that!"

"So do I!" I said, zipping up my jumpsuit halfway, leaving my black vest on show. I elbowed Nathan again. "Seriously, stop with the almost-ridiculously-graphic descriptions! They _really_ don't need to hear about this!"

"No, we really don't," agreed Alisha, pulling her compact mirror out of her locker.

"Since we're stopping that conversation, how exactly did you explain all that immortality shit to your mum?" asked Curtis, pulling on his own jumpsuit.

Nathan snorted. "Funny story, that. Yeah, so my mum opens the door and she's like, 'Arrgghhh!'," he explained, shutting his locker. "And I'm like, 'I'm immortal'! Then she fainted, face plants on the radiator, there's blood and teeth _everywhere_."

"Is she awight?" asked Kelly, wrinkling her nose at that oh-so charming mental image.

"Yeah, yeah. She's fine, she's fine," said Nathan breezily. "Apart from the whole 'face'." He gestured at his own. "Kinda put a downer on the whole thing."

"How did ya explain it ta ya dad?"

"I told him I faked my own death as part of an elaborate life insurance scam," he said, smirking. "He was not a happy man."

All of a sudden, the probation worker, who still hadn't bother actually telling us his name, walked into the locker rooms. "Who are you?" he asked of Nathan in that monotonous tone of his.

Nathan looked the probation worker up and down a few times before grinning like he was about to tell a joke. "I could ask you the same thing!"

"I'm the probation worker," was the slightly bored reply.

Nathan's smirk wavered slightly. "Oh," he said at last, sounding slightly surprised. He stuck his hand out at the probation worker. "Nathan. Nathan Young."

The probation worker just stared at Nathan's outstretched hand, before he ignored it and blandly said, "They told me you were dead." Honestly, he couldn't have sounded less interested if he had tried.

"Really?" Nathan withdrew his hand and raised two fingers to his neck, pretending to check for a pulse. "Huh. Apparently not. Could a dead man do this?" He proceeded to throw himself into a dance that made him look like he was having some kind of fit will standing up, which only ended when he turned quickly and cracked his head on an open locker door. "Jesus!" he hissed in pain, raising a hand to his forehead while the rest of us laughed at his expense.

"Well, I'll put you back on the system," said the probation worker, turning to leave.

"Hold on, what?" Nathan demanded after him, causing him to turn back. "Are you sayin' I was outta the system? I was a free man? And if I didn't show up here, no one woulda come lookin' for me?"

The probation worker shrugged. "We thought you were dead." He raised his eyebrows before leaving, and the rest of us burst into laughter at the furious look on Nathan's face, which was punctuated by Curtis saying, "You prick!" Seriously, it was like it was his catchphrase or something.

"For fuck sake, this is a fuckin' joke!" Nathan grumbled as the others left to grab the stuff we were supposed to be using to finish the painting we'd started yesterday. "Oh come on, Georgia, stop laughin'! It's not funny!"

"Come on, baby, it's not that bad," I said sweetly, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. "After all, how else are you supposed to see my beautiful face every day without fail?"

"True," he said, leaning down to kiss me properly. He pulled back and grinned at me, before sauntering out after the others, but not before slapping me on the arse before he did so.

"Dickhead," I muttered affectionately. I went to follow him, but that was when I noticed Simon was still sitting on the wooden bench by the wall. He looked…afraid? No, that wasn't it. It was more than that. He didn't just look afraid, he looked panicked and upset.

"Simon?" I said gently, sitting down next to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said instantly.

"Bullshit there's nothing," I said firmly. "I know you, Simon. You're my best friend, and therefore I know exactly when you're lying. And if it wasn't obvious, I can _so_ tell you're lying now."

"No, really. I'm fine," he insisted.

I sighed. "Okay, fine. I can't force you to tell me, I guess. But snap out of it. You know I don't like it when you're sad." I patted him on the leg and stood up. I headed into the storage cabinet, grabbed a cleaning rag and some bleach to clean up any mess we made and went to meet the others by the freshly painted wall. But as I came out of the cabinet, someone blocked my path.

Someone with dark witchy hair and big, staring eyes.

"Lucy," I said, surprised.

"Georgia," she said quietly. "It really is you."

"Y-yeah. It's me," I said. "How are you?"

She didn't answer me. Instead she said, "Is it nice? Being out of the unit?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I guess so."

"I asked if I could write to you, you know," she said almost dreamily. "But they said I wasn't allowed to. They said I hadn't known you long enough to be allowed to write to you."

"Really? That's awful," I said. "If I'd have known about that, I would have gone back. I would have told them to let you write to me. I would have…um…loved to have heard from you, Lucy."

"I knew it," she declared. "I knew that you would want to! I told them, Georgia, I did! But they didn't listen. They never _listened_."

Okay, so this didn't take long to get a bit freaky. I'd forgotten Lucy's tendencies to get a bit manic. "I'm sorry Lucy," I said kindly, putting a hand on her arm. "I really am. I really should go now, though. I have to clean up. Y'know-" I removed my hand from her arm and gestured at myself. "Community service and all that." Lucy kind of nodded, but it looked more like a twitch. Still, I took it as a goodbye and smiled warmly at her before joining the others.

"Any particular reason you were talkin' to one of the mentals?" asked Nathan as I sat down by his feet and started absent-mindedly scrubbing at a fleck of black paint on the floor.

"Hm? Oh, she…er…just want to talk," I lied. "I felt sorry for her, so I figured 'sure, let's talk back'."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a nice person," I shot back. "Well, sometimes." I noticed Simon still hadn't come out of the locker rooms. Urgh, it was killing me, not knowing what was up with him! To distract myself, I stood up and grabbed a paintbrush that was idly laying on the floor, dipping it in some paint and going over the wall again.

I was the only one doing any real work. Alisha was lounging in an orange bucket chair reading a magazine, Nathan was dabbing paint on to the wall every now and again in between talking to Curtis, Curtis was holding up a protective sheet that he was supposed to be lying on the floor to keep the lino clean, and Kelly was talking to Alisha.

Eventually, I saw Simon coming out of the storage cabinet, a yellow sponge in his hand. But before he could actually reach our little group, Lucy seemed to appear out of thin air and waylaid him. What the fuck?

I strained to listen to their conversation, but I couldn't hear anything other than the humming of their voices. Kelly noticed me staring, and turned to look as well. But whatever it was Lucy was saying to Simon, it was making him look even more uncomfortable than usual. Their conversation seemed to end with Simon awkwardly waving his sponge and hurrying over to us, leaving Lucy looking kind of disconsolate.

"Do you know 'er or somefin'?" Kelly asked Simon as he got nearer.

"No," he hastily replied.

Alisha snorted. "Are you trying to shag her?"

"She's not that mentally ill," quipped Nathan. "Or maybe she is…" He said it loud enough that Lucy looked up from her canvas to stare at us. She looked like she might start crying.

"Why the fuck would you say that?" I snapped, kicking him in the shin. "You're such a prick!"

"Ow! Jesus Christ, Georgia!" he hissed, before continuing to call over to Lucy, "Hey, no offence! A lot of people say I'm mentally ill, but obviously I'm not because I'm over here, and you're over there. With the other crazies…" I felt a small surge of anger somewhere inside me. Granted, Nathan didn't know that I had a history with Lucy, so maybe I was being a bit unreasonable. But then I saw that Lucy had started crying, and was scribbling at her picture so hard her pencil bust through the canvas. I snapped.

"There's something fucking wrong with you!" I shouted at Nathan, pushing him into the wall and storming off into the entrance hall. I heard various words of confusion behind me, a "What the fuck?" from Alisha, an "Is she awight?" from Kelly, a "Jesus…" from Curtis, a "You should go and talk to her" from Simon, followed by hurried footsteps and Nathan calling my name.

"What?!" I snapped at him, whirling around, nearly catching him in the eye with my long hair.

"Come on, don't be like this," he said flirtatiously, trying to put his arms around me, but I pushed him back deftly.

"Oh, fuck off!"

"What's up with you?!"

"It's that! What just happened!" I yelled, throwing my arm in the direction of the main hall. I could see the others through the glass. They were pretending to be painting or cleaning, but I could tell they were listening. "You can't go around saying things like that to people and just expect me to be okay with it! People have feelings, Nathan! You need to respect that! Lu- that girl, whoever she was, she had them! It's clear she's not the most sane person in the world, and now you've gone and made the poor girl cry! And I'm _not_ okay with that, Nathan!" Now that I'd got that all out of my system, I felt slightly deflated.

"Look, Georgia, you know what I'm like. I'm sorry if I've offended you or somethin', not that I can really see how, but alright, fine, whatever. If you want us to work out, you know that you're gonna have to put up with me bein'…well, me," he said, grabbing hold of me around the waist and holding on tight enough that I wasn't able to wriggle my way out. "Jesus, this relationship shit is really gettin' to me. I can't remember the last time I said somethin' that serious to a girl before."

"Twat," I said, but with more affection than venom. "Alright, yeah, I'll let this go, I suppose. But seriously, the next time you do something like that I _won't_ hesitate to set you on fire." I waggled my fingers at him, smiled in mock-sweetness and flounced back to the others.

* * *

When it came to the lunch break, Kelly and I headed outside to catch up on the sun. We passed Alisha, who was going into the locker rooms with a quite determined look on her face. I asked her if she wanted to come with us, but she said she had something the she needed to do.

As we went out to the benches in the courtyard, we walked past…Alisha? Now I was really confused. She was sunbathing on one of the tables, sunglasses on and headphones in, when not three minutes earlier she had been going into the locker room.

I poked her on the shoulder. "Oi, Alisha!"

She lifted up her sunglasses and peered up at me, pulling out her headphones. "Yeah?"

"Whatever happened to having something to do?" I demanded.

"What are you talking about?"

"We saw ya goin' inta the locker room," said Kelly. "Ya said ya had somefin' ya needed ta do."

"Seriously, what the fuck are you two on about?" Alisha asked, sounding bewildered. "I've been out here for the last twenty minutes. I haven't seen you two till now."

Okay, this was seriously weird. "Are you sure?" I said urgently.

"Jesus Christ, yes!" she said exasperatedly. "What the fuck is going on with everyone? First Simon comes over and he's all like 'Oh, I think about you blah, blah, blah', and now you two are acting like you've seen a ghost or something!"

"I think something weird is going on," I said suddenly. "This is exactly the kind of freak-ass stuff that goes down in _Batman _before shit hits the fan, and in the worst way too."

Kelly and Alisha blinked at me. "Wot da fock are ya talkin' about?" said Kelly.

"Don't worry," I said quickly, starting to walk away. "I'll see you guys in a bit." I practically power-walked back to the community centre to see if I could find Simon. He was the only other person who would know what I was talking about if I told him that freaky-ass shit of _The Dark Knight Rises_-climax proportions might go down.

But as I walked out of the main hall and into the entrance hall, the door to the locker rooms flew open and out stormed Nathan, half-in, half-out of his jumpsuit, an incredibly pissed off expression on his face.

When he caught sight of me, he stormed over and angrily said, "Hey! I have never had any complaints." He paused for a second, then said, "Well maybe a few. But perhaps it wouldn't _be _such a problem, if you-" he jabbed his finger at me. "-didn't have such a massive fanny!" He dropped his hands to his crotch and made a circle with his hands in an interpretation of…apparently my female area.

I raised my eyebrow in perplexity. "Nathan, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm talkin' about your jumbo-sized twat!"

"God, I fucking hate you sometimes," I snapped. "You know that?" I turned around and stormed off in the opposite direction.

"Hey, you started it!" he shouted after me. "I have feelings! And so does my cock!" As a response, I threw my hand up in the air and flipped him off, not bothering to turn around.

What the hell had that been all about? I mean, I knew that Nathan probably had some form of Tourette's that made him say exactly what he was thinking, but where had all that stuff even come from?! Why was everyone acting so weird? Nathan was, apparently Kelly and I had seen the spirit of a very-much-alive Alisha and Simon hadn't been acting right for days.

I saw Alisha and Kelly chilling by the wall, so I went over and joined them, taking a cigarette out of my pocket as I did so and lighting it to calm the nerves that were making me want to go back and kick Nathan in the face.

"You find what you were looking for then?" asked Alisha.

I shook my head. "No, but I've just seen Nathan. Now _he's_ acting all freaky as well. Seriously, what the fuck is going on?"

"Like ya need ta worry about that," said Kelly dismissively. "Nathan's always actin' like a freak."

"Yeah, but this was different," I insisted. "Even for-" I broke off suddenly as I heard the sounds of a brawl in the hallway. "Do you hear that?" The other girls strained as well, then nodded. We started walking to where the noise was coming from, but the walking turned to jogging when we heard Curtis shouting, followed by the sound of someone being slammed into the wall.

As we burst into the hallway, we were confronted with the sight of a slightly bloodied Simon being pinned up against the wall by a very infuriated Curtis. Nathan was there as well, sitting on a wheelbarrow filled with what looked like tarpaulin.

As I saw Curtis go to throw another punch, I ran over to them and grabbed hold of Curtis' vest, yanking him back hard enough that I accidentally slightly tore the material.

"Fuck!" he cried, letting go of Simon, who slumped against the wall. He glared at me, before turning to Alisha and looking very confused. "What happened to all the blood?"

"What?" came Alisha's even more confused-sounding reply. I put my hand under Simon's chin and made him look at me. He was bleeding from the split lip Curtis had given him.

"Why did you hit him?!" I demanded.

"He attacked Alisha!" insisted Curtis.

"Er, no he didn't!" shouted Alisha like it was obvious. Which apparently it should have been.

"You were in the locker room!" Curtis persisted. "Your face was all messed up! You said he attacked you!"

"What are you talking about!?" exclaimed Alisha.

I put my hand on Simon's cheek and used my thumb to gently wipe away the blood. Then I angrily turned to Curtis and yelled, "If you hit him again, I will rip you head straight off your fucking shoulders, mate!"

Through all the screaming and yelling, I only now noticed that Nathan, for a change, hadn't actually said anything, which was again, really unlike him. I was amazed that in all of this he hadn't found one window of opportunity to take the piss out of anyone.

"I think he's been _wanking_ over me," Alisha interjected.

"What?" said Curtis, looking at a now terrified-looking Simon.

"I haven't!" Simon said hastily.

"Well that's not very convincin'," sneered Nathan. Ah, there it was. I walked over to him and whacked him upside the head, hard, earning me and, "Ow! Fuckin' hell!"

All of a sudden, Kelly's eyes widened as she looked at Simon and exclaimed, "_She gave you a blow job_?!"

"What?" said Alisha, sounding slightly aghast. Harsh, much?

"I read 'is mind, 'e says that ya sucked 'im off," clarified Kelly.

"What the _fuck_ is going on?" demanded Curtis.

"Er, if I was gonna suck someone's cock, _trust me_, it wouldn't be his!" Alisha said callously, gesturing at Simon, who looked dejectedly at the floor.

"Awww, are you gonna cry now?" said Nathan in derisive sympathy.

"Will you shut the fuck up?" I hissed at him, and he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Look, jost be straight wiv us, yeah?" Kelly said to Simon before pointing at Alisha. "Did she give you a nosh?" Simon gave a slow and slight nod of the head.

"Whoever it was that was sucking your cock, it wasn't me!" exploded Alisha.

"Something weird's going on," said Curtis intensely.

"Thank you!" I said in frustration. "Nice to know there's someone here who actually agrees with me!"

"Well whatever it is, I'm guessin' it's your fault," Nathan directed at Simon, shifting slightly on the thing he was sitting on. "Jesus!" he suddenly exclaimed.

Him moving had caused some of the tarpaulin-y stuff to shift, and had uncovered an arm. At least, it looked like an arm. It was the same shape as an arm, with a hand and fingers and stuff. But human arms weren't meant to be such a weird blue-grey shade, were they? Or supposed to be coated in ice crystals.

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Then Simon made a strange noise somewhere between groaning and crying and turned to face the wall, his head in his arms. Nathan reached forward hesitantly and pulled back the rest of the tarpaulin. I screamed.

It was Sally, the old probation worker. Well, what I assumed was now the very frozen, frost-bitten _corpse_ of her. I nearly gagged as I took in her unblinking, frozen-open eyes, the grey of her skin, the unnatural angle of her neck. What had Simon _done _to her?

"Is that da probation worker?" whispered Kelly.

"It was," I said quietly, my voice cracking slightly. I looked at Simon. "Did you kill her?"

Simon turned around, looking like he was about to burst into tears. "She was after us! She was engaged to Tony, the first probation worker! She found out about us killing him!"

"So, you kill her?" Alisha demanded hysterically. "Ha, that's brilliant! Problem solved!" Sarcasm dripped off every syllable.

"She was going to the police!" Simon cried. "I didn't mean to kill her, it was-it was an accident!" Fear constricted around my heart. Jesus Christ, I thought our days of hiding dead bodies were over!

"You're a weird little psycho," Nathan said suddenly, leering at Simon. His eyes darted between the rest of us. "And now everyone knows it." He turned and slowly made his way up the hallway. What the fuck was wrong with him.

"Nathan, don't just walk away from all this!" I shouted after him. "This is on _all _of us!"

Curtis punched the wall in anger. "I thought we were through with this _shit_!"

"I think we all did, Curtis," I snapped. Suddenly, a flushing sound emanated from the toilets, and the toilet door opened. Nathan walked out, fanning a magazine in his face and making a noise of disgust. My mouth dropped open in horror.

"I don't know _what _is goin' on with my guts," he groaned. "It's all hot cross buns and Easter eggs when Jesus gets resurrected!"

"That wasn't Nathan," exclaimed Simon, stating the obvious.

"Whoever it was," Curtis said nervously. "They know we killed our probation workers!"

Nathan blinked at Sally's corpse. "Did someone kill our probation worker?"

I turned and lightly head butted the wall. Why was it always us?

* * *

"_I'm a wreck and I know it,  
And I tend to show it,  
Every chance that get.  
Butterflies in the sky,  
They just fly on by,  
Yeah, they're making me sick."  
_**-He Is We, "Pardon Me"**

* * *

**A/N- Chapter twenty, people. I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are a good way to let me know! Mwah, I love you guys! Xx Gee xX**

**Oh yeah, references so I don't have the bejeezus sued out of me:**

"**Mum smokes in the car. Jesus is okay with it, but don't tell Dad!" is from **_**The Big Bang Theory**_**.**


	21. It's You

**A/N- Aiiiee! I've passed fifty reviews! Yaaay! You guys are AWESOME! Many, many thanks as per usual to Beebopalula and Gwenlynn, for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One- It's You**

It didn't take long to explain to Nathan what had been going on. And once we'd finished, he was unsurprisingly shocked and confused. "Seriously? I spend a few hours in the toilet and I miss all that? Life is just passin' me by."

"Who was that just now?" demanded Alisha, gesturing down the corridor the doppelganger had left via.

"I think it's a shape-shifter," said Simon quietly, flattening down his hair. "They can take on other people's appearances. I saw it in an episode of _Star Trek_."

I clicked my fingers. "You mean like Clayface in _Batman_?" I said. Simon nodded. "Knew it. Wow, we really are living our lives like all this shit is a comic book, aren't we. To be honest, I'm half-expecting The Joker to pop up."

"We should probably watch more of that science fiction stuff," Curtis said from his spot on the floor. "We might actually figure out what's going on round here."

Suddenly, Nathan turned to me, a shamefaced and guilty look on his face. I folded my arms. "Can I help you?"

"So it wasn't you who said those very hurtful things about the size of my cock?"

I blinked, before frowning. "Er, no."

"Oh…" He drew out the sound. "Then you're probably wondering why I said you had a-" his hands dropped to his crotch. Nice, so we were back to the inappropriate mime work. "-huge fanny. There may have been a bit of a mix-up."

"Ya think?" I said sarcastically. He looked quite apologetic for a change, so I softened. "If that's your way of saying sorry, then yes. I forgive you."

He grinned at me and opened his arms. "Hug?" I didn't hesitate to go into his arms, which closed tightly around me as I craned my face up for a kiss.

"Aw. I fink that's dead romantic," said Kelly.

Nathan released me from the hug, but kept his arm around my shoulder. I smiled. "Yeah, we're like Romeo and Juliet. Y'know, if Romeo was a twat and Juliet was mentally unstable."

"We should set up a password," said Simon suddenly, to draw us all back to the thing we should have been worrying about. IE- the psycho metamophmagus on the loose. "So that we can say it to each other so we know it us."

"Monkey slut!" Nathan exclaimed, clicking his fingers and pointing around the group.

"We're not having _monkey slut _as a password," said Alisha, sounding slightly irritated.

"What're the chances of that bein' used in a normal conversation?" challenged Nathan. "Kinda low, no?"

"Ah, jost go wiv it," said Kelly, ever the peacemaker. "Monkey slut." Nathan pumped his fist in the air and made a noise of triumph.

I sighed and shook my head. Nathan could be such a child sometimes. Half the time, he acted more immature than me, and I was the only one in our little group who was still actually a teenager.

The six of us headed to the locker rooms to look for the doppelganger freak. It would have helped if we'd known who the hell we were supposed to be looking for, but the fact remained that none of us had a clue.

We remained huddled in a small group, Simon leading, surprisingly, and Nathan and Curtis bringing up the rear. Us girls stayed in the middle, but I had my hand tightly grasping Nathan's as I was too scared to let go.

"We need to find out who it is before they go to the police," hissed Curtis.

"It's the new probation worker," said Alisha evidently. "It's _always_ the probation worker."

"That dead chick was the other probation worker's fiancée!" exclaimed Nathan suddenly. "What if this new one's his brother!"

"He's white!" said Simon. "Tony was black!"

"Er, adopted brother? Adopted kids are nut jobs!" retorted Nathan.

As we came out of the locker rooms, however, we were faced with a new suspect. Lucy suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She stood in front of all of us, a psychotic grin on her face.

"Lucy!" Simon and I both said loudly in recognition. We both suddenly looked at each other in shock, as neither of us had clearly been expecting the other to say anything. We turned back to Lucy, who was still smiling that freakish smile, before she darted off into the main hall.

"Or it could be her," stated Alisha. We were all about to run after her, but Curtis suddenly barrelled out of the locker rooms and shouted, "Wait!"

The main hall door opened, and we all turned back, expecting it to be Lucy. Instead, it was the new probation worker, who was merrily twirling his ID card around his finger and whistling.

"Right," he said cheerfully. "I will see you tomorrow."

"Oh good one," said Nathan sarcastically. "Very convincin'."

"It's not her!" Curtis said rapidly. He gestured for us all to gather round him, like it was a pow-wow at an American football game. He went on to tell us a story about how he'd rewound time because, in another version of history, we'd gone chasing after the probation worker thinking he was Lucy, and Kelly had proceeded to smash his head in with a fire extinguisher, resulting in us having killed our third probation worker in six weeks. Honestly, you couldn't make this shit up.

"Right, what's going on?" asked the probation worker suspiciously. All of us turned around quickly to face him, all of us rigidly standing bolt upright.

"Nothing," said Simon in an attempt at sounding breezy.

"Well you're obviously lying," said the probation worker, in a tone that made me feel sure that he knew something. My breath caught in my throat. "But it's five o'clock, and I couldn't give a shit." My breath came out in a huff of relief. The probation worker ambled his way past us, heading out the back door.

"Have a good one," Curtis called to him, and he raised a hand in recognition before the door closed. The second he was out of sight, we sprinted into the main hall, and I slipped slightly as my ballet pumps slid along the lino, slowing me down slightly. We caught sight of Lucy dashing into the probation office, and we chased after her, hoping to corner her. But when we got in there…

"Where'd she go?" demanded Curtis as we all looked around the very Lucyless office. The was a sudden quiet squeaking noise.

"She's turned into a mouse!" said Simon, looking down. It was like all hell broke loose. Alisha started screaming, flinching away from the little rodent which started hopping its way across the office. It went behind a line of filing cabinets, which Simon, Curtis and I began pulling down to get to it, but it was no use. The mouse scurried into a mouse-hole, which Simon tried to fit his hand into, but it didn't work. We were screwed.

"Get some cheese!" exclaimed Nathan suddenly.

"Are you fockin' serious?" scoffed Kelly, raising her eyebrows.

"I've got it!" I said suddenly, an idea striking me. "There's sports equipment in the storage locker right? Well, if we all grab something heavy, and wait outside the mouse-hole for her to stick her head out, then when she does we whack the fucker and we got her!" Everyone agreed it was a good idea, and so, leaving the boys standing guard by the mouse-hole, Kelly, Alisha and I headed to get the things we were going to arm ourselves with.

When we opened up the storage cabinet, the first thing I noticed was a set of three baseball bats. I picked one up, twirling it around in my hands with a slightly sadistic smile on my face. "Ah, my old friend."

I joined the boys back in the office, handing them each their 'weapon': a hockey stick for Curtis, a crowbar for Simon and a baseball bat like mine for Nathan. The four of us positioned ourselves around the mouse-hole, bats/sticks/crowbars raised. Kelly and Alisha had opted to remain out in the main hall, waiting for us to give them a signal.

We were silent for a few minutes, then Curtis nudged Simon. "So what's the story with you and this girl?" Nathan and I both tore our eyes away from the mouse-hole to see what Simon would say.

"After I…tried to burn that boy's house down, they sent me to a psychiatric unit for assessment," he admitted. Oh my God. No. He couldn't be…

"Really? Can't imagine why," derided Nathan.

Simon glared at him slightly before continuing, "Lucy was a patient in the unit. I think she's obsessed with me."

Realisation and recognition hit me like a speeding truck to the face. I dropped my baseball bat, and it hit the floor with a dull _thunk_. "It's you!" I whispered.

* * *

_I felt cold. Bleak. Dead inside. I couldn__'__t believe my parents had let me be taken away to here. I guess I had to believe it now. I was insane. That was what I__'__d leave here with as a diagnosis. Why else would my parents let the courts send me to a psychiatric unit for so-called 'assessment'?_

_I trudged down the sterile white corridor, a doctor either side of me, dressed in my unit-issued blue trousers and white t-shirt. I looked horrendous. I wasn__'__t allowed my make-up, my hair curlers or any of my actual clothes in case I found a way to commit suicide with a pair of laceless Vans and an eyeliner._

_The doctors stopped me outside a door, labelled Residential Room 13. Thirteen, my lucky number. Apparently, anyway._

"_Okay, Georgia. This is the room you will be staying in during your short stay here at Wertham Psychiatric Hospital,__"__ one of the doctors said, gripping his clipboard. __"__Because you are only eighteen, we have decided to pair you with another patient your age.__"__ I nodded. The other doctor knocked smartly on the door three times, before opening it and going in. The first doctor ushered me in after her._

"_Lucy?__"__ she said gently. __"__Are you in here?__"_

"_Yes,__"__ came a quiet, female voice to my left. I followed the source of the noise. A teenage girl was sitting one of the two single beds. She had long, dark hair similar to my own, but without the fringe, big eyes and pale skin. She, too, was wearing the unit-issued uniform. __"__What is it? Who__'__s she?__"__ she asked, pointing at me._

"_Lucy, this is Georgia,__"__ said Doctor One, pushing me slightly forward._

"_Um, hi,__"__ I said awkwardly._

"_Hello,__"__ she said._

"_Georgia will be your roommate for the next few days,__"__ said Doctor Two. __"__I trust you will make her feel welcome even though she__'__s only here for a little while.__"_

"_Yes, okay,__"__ the girl- Lucy- said simply._

"_Great,__"__ Doctor Two said encouragingly. __"__Well then, we__'__ll leave the two of you to get acquainted, then in five or so minutes I would like the two of you to go to Therapy Room Three for the teen group therapy session. See you soon.__"__ The two doctors beamed at us patronizingly, they way you would at a child, before hastily leaving the room. An awkward silence was left in their wake._

_I went and sat down on the bed that I assumed was to be mine. God, this whole thing was fucking __bullshit__. I didn__'__t deserve this! I wasn__'__t insane, or unstable! I wasn__'__t!_

" _Lucy, was it?__"__ I said to distract myself from the negative thoughts bubbling away in my brain. The girl nodded. __"__Hi, I__'__m Georgia, as the doctors just said.__"_

"_Hello,__"__ Lucy said again._

"_So__…"__ I said uneasily. __"__Who are the other teenagers who__'__re gonna be at this shitty group session?__"_

"_Oh, just us,__"__ she replied. __"__Just us and the other boy our age.__"_

_What? "__That__'__s all there is? Three teenagers?!__"__ I demanded shrilly. __"__In this entire place, there__'__s only three teenagers?__"_

_Lucy nodded. __"__Yes. I was the first. It was quite lonely, actually.__"_

"_I can imagine,__"__ I said sympathetically. I looked at the clock on the wall. __"__Well, I guess we should get going to this session then.__"__ Lucy looked at the clock and nodded. __"__I__'__m guessing you know where you__'__re going.__"_

_She nodded again, standing up. __"__It__'__s only a few corridors away.__"_

_I followed her out of the room and round what seemed to me like a labyrinth of corridors. But eventually, we arrived at a white door labelled __'__Therapy Room 3__'__. Lucy knocked on the door a couple of times then opened it, motioning at me to follow her._

_Inside the room there were four chairs, but only two of them were filled. The female doctor from earlier was sitting in one, and in the other was a boy. He looked slightly older than me, maybe twenty, twenty-one-ish. He was obviously also dressed in the unit uniform. His hair looked like it had been ironed, it was so perfectly symmetrical, and his eyes were wide and staring, like Lucy__'__s. God, was that the fate of all the patients in here? Was I going to end up with eyes that made me look permanently high as well?_

"_Ah, Lucy, Georgia, good to see you,__"__ the doctor said warmly. __"__Please, take a seat.__"__ She gestured at the two remaining free seats. Lucy moved quickly to take the seat next to the boy, and gave me a funny look, almost like she was daring me to tell her to move._

Jeez, girl, don't panic. I'm not planning on stealing your boyfriend_, I thought, sitting in the other seat._

"_Georgia, this is Simon Bellamy,__"__ said the doctor, gesturing at the boy. __"__Simon, this is Georgia Riches.__"_

"_Hiya,__"__ I said warmly, smiling at him. He just nodded in greeting, then nervously flattened his hair down with the heel of his hand. _Hm, not much of a talker apparently. Maybe I should start calling him Silent Simon_, I thought. I raised my eyebrows at him before settling back in my seat._

_The doctor carried on talking, __"__Now, I thought today we would talk about__…"_

* * *

Simon turned to look at me, and his eyes widened as he recognized me too. "No…"

"I can't believe it," I said quietly. "It was you! You were the quiet boy!"

"What the fuck are you on about?" Nathan demanded, totally shattering the OMFG feeling. "Georgia?" He was peering at me suspiciously. Damn, so I hadn't done that in exactly the most subtle of ways.

I bent down to pick up my baseball bat, and I sighed as I straightened up again. "Okay, fine. Here's what I'm on about." I sucked in a deep breath. "You're acting like Simon's a freak because he was in that psychiatric unit, but he wasn't the only one. After I attacked my sister, I was sent to the same unit for assessments as well. Simon and I spent some time together in the unit, and Lucy...the mental girl…she was my roommate."

"And when exactly were you plannin' on tellin' us this?" demanded Nathan.

"I wasn't!" I replied hotly. "Everyone seemed to think me enough of a freak as it was! I didn't exactly see a window of opportunity for me to just casually announce I'd spent time in the nuthouse! No offence, Simon," I added quickly.

"It's okay," he said, but he was gripping his crowbar slightly tighter, I noticed.

"Oh, so it's just that," Nathan said snidely to him. "And the murder, is it? Or is there anythin' else you'd like to share with the group?"

"You expect me to tell you anything after how you've treated me?" demanded Simon, straightening up slightly. "All the names you've called me?!" I held my breath. Uh oh.

"What names?!" said Nathan, sounding genuinely confused. I had to fight the oh-so familiar urge to kick him.

"Weird kid! Pantysniffer! Virgin! Freak! Twat! Pervert! Paedophile!" Simon paused for breath before saying, slightly hesitantly, "Melon fucker!" Nathan snorted in amusement, and this time I did kick him in the ankle. Simon turned back to face the mouse-hole and muttered, "I just want to be your friend."

A slightly awkward silence followed this. I looked out of the corner of my eye, and I could see Nathan processing this last sentence.

"Sure, man," he said at last.

Curtis chuckled quietly. "Alright."

I put a hand on Simon's shoulder and gave him an encouraging squeeze. I saw him give a small smile before we all lapsed back into silence, all of us staring intensely at the mouse-hole. God, this was getting boring. Nathan seemed to think so too as he started making some weird groaning noises, stretching and leaning on his baseball bat which he had positioned across his shoulders.

"So basically," he suddenly said, looking at Curtis. "He's had a blow job off your girlfriend and you haven't."

"Nathan!" I hissed warningly, but he continued to grin evilly between Curtis and Simon.

"Shut up, man! It wasn't her!" said Curtis in annoyance.

"It looked like her," countered Nathan.

"It wasn't her!" Curtis insisted angrily.

"It had her mouth."

"It wasn't her brain!"

"Who cares about her brain," said Nathan through a laugh. "When your balls are restin' on her chin!"

"Say another word!" said Curtis warningly, snapping. "I dare you, do it." He jabbed his hockey stick in Nathan's face, who, thank fuck, back down.

"I didn't do anything!" Nathan stated innocently. "Be mad at him." He jerked his head in Simon's direction, who suddenly looked piss-yourself-terrified as Curtis turned to glare at him.

"I-I didn't know what was happening!" Simon stuttered. "She just…and then she…before I knew it, she was-"

"Suckin' your cock!" offered Nathan, earning him another kick from me. "Ow! Will ya stop doin' that?"

"No!" I said, doing it again to prove a point.

"You didn't know it wasn't Alisha!" said Curtis, still sounding pretty pissed. "You shoulda stopped her!"

"Oh come on man, be serious!" scoffed Nathan. "That requires an _inhuman_ level of self-restraint that no man is capable of!" He clapped a hand to Simon's shoulder. "The siren call of the blow job renders all men powerless." He used that hand to then point at Curtis. "That's how girls trick ya into marryin' them!"

"You are so sexist sometimes!" I snapped at him.

"It's why you love me," he mocked.

I went to kick him again, when I suddenly noticed something small and brown zoom across the floor. "MOUSE!" I screamed, beating at the floor with my baseball bat. The boys all started yelling as well, and the four of us were just mashing at the floor with our sports and tool implements. Paper was flying everywhere, and in all the hubbub Nathan accidentally hit me over the head with his bat.

I fell to the floor, slightly dizzy. "Ah shit, Georgia. Sorry," he groaned, helping me to my feet.

"It's fine," I muttered, rubbing at the sore spot on my head as Simon and Curtis barrelled out of the office after the mouse, Curtis instructing all of us to split up. "Come on!"

Nathan and I ended up back in the locker rooms, as I didn't really want to go off on my own. Nathan was dragging his bat along the floor, and I was tapping mine on the tiles to attract her. The lights were flickering on and off, automatically making the whole situation about seventy-three times creepier.

"Nathan! I'm scared," I whispered, reaching forward and grabbing his hand. I suddenly remembered my power kicked in when I was scared, and I quickly dropped it. "This is exactly the kind of shit that happens in a horror movie before the first person dies! And that person is _always_ the shit-scared comedy relief girl, IE, me!"

"Calm down," he said. "I like to think that none of us are gonna die. Except her!" he exclaimed suddenly, as we both noticed the mouse crawl into a cardboard box. The two of us lifted our baseball bats and started simultaneously beating the shit out of the box until it resembled nothing more than a cardboard pancake. Just for good measure, I jumped on the box a couple of times as well.

Nathan dropped his bat and picked up the box. He reached inside and pulled out the now very flattened rodent, which disgustingly had some of its guts hanging out. I retched, covering my hand with my mouth. I turned away from the sight, and came face-to-face with Simon. "Hey! We got the bitch!" I said triumphantly, as Nathan held up the flattened mouse. Realisation dawned on me. We'd killed her! We'd killed Lucy! Shit! "Oh God…!"

The same thing seemed to happen to Nathan. "Oh Jesus! Oh Jesus, we've killed her! Quick, do somethin'! Give her mouth-to-mouth or somethin'!" He brandished the mouse at Simon, who took a step backwards.

"I hate mice," said Simon flatly. Wait a second. Simon was a lot of things- shy, nerdy, adorable- but he wasn't a coward, and I knew he wasn't scared of mice. Then I noticed something else. 'Simon' didn't have a split lip like he had had five minutes earlier.

"The password!" I ordered him.

"Monkey slut!" Nathan announced, and I glared at him. "What?" Oh yeah, because it wasn't like he'd just told Psycho Lucy what the password was.

My suspicions were confirmed when 'Simon''s eyebrows furrowed and he said, "What?"

"It's you," said Nathan, working it out as well and throwing the dead mouse over his shoulder. "But it's not you!"

A pause. Then…"_Guys_!" I shrieked as Nathan and I both threw ourselves at 'Simon', slamming him/her back into one of the lockers. But for a teen girl, Lucy had a lot of strength and slammed the two of us straight back into another locker. I closed my hand around the skin exposed at her/his wrist, burning her, but instead of slowing her down, she just got even more pissed off and fucking _headbutted _me, flooring me instantly.

I sat up, groaning in pain and rubbing the sore spot on my head. The girl could give Kelly a run for her money, I was guessing. I looked up. Nathan and Lucy, who was still masquerading as Simon, were going at it hammer and tongs, both of them screaming and wrestling. Nathan managed to pin her up against the lockers again, but Lucy had other ideas and leaned forward, sinking her/Simon's teeth into Nathan's neck. Oh, _fuck _no. Headbutt me if you want, but you start biting my boyfriend and shit. Will. Hit. The. Fan.

I stood up and made to grab at Lucy, but she began pushing Nathan backwards. faster and faster they moved, both of them screaming, until there was this horrific squelchy-crunchy noise. All three of us looked down.

"Holy shit!" I screeched. Nathan was stuck to the wall, completely impaled on a serrated pipe that was sticking out. Blood seeped out around the wound, dyeing the blue material of his t-shirt crimson. Lucy-Simon's mouth dropped open in horror, and he-she darted out of the room. I couldn't be bothered to chase after her as I took in the sight of my dying boyfriend.

"Oh, come on!" moaned Nathan, blood already slowly starting to trickle out of his mouth.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" I chanted. "Oh God. What do I do? What do I do? WHAT DO I FUCKING DO?!"

"Well calm down, for one," rasped Nathan. "Seriously, you're actin' like it's _you_ who's been fuckin' impaled!"

"Right, sorry." I tried to compose myself, but instead felt like I was going to start crying. I turned to the open locker room door and began yelling, "Help! Guys! We need help!" Not long after this, Kelly came speeding through the door, followed by Simon. Oh, hell no, I was not about to fall for this again! I didn't hesitate to full-on bitch slap him-her right in the face.

"Ow!" he-she cried, holding a hand over his-her cheek.

"Wot da fock are ya doin'?!" shrieked Kelly.

"Kelly! It's him!" elaborated Nathan weakly, pointing at Simon. "She's Barry! She shoved me onto a pipe!"

"I'm not her!" Simon insisted, gripping his crowbar. "I'm…me!" That was when I noticed the split lip. Ah, shit. It was him.

"Well then I'm really confused," said Nathan weakly.

"That makes two of us," I muttered. _Sorry_, I mouthed at Simon, and he smiled feebly in response. I heard more footsteps, and a few seconds later Alisha burst into the locker rooms as well.

Kelly and Simon looked at her expectantly, and she quickly said, "Monkey slut!" She looked at Nathan. "Shit, does that hurt?"

"Only when I breathe," Nathan managed to choke out between laboured gasps.

Alisha looked down, and I saw her take in the sight of the splatticated mouse. "Urgh, is that her?"

"No, it's just a mouse," I said disgustedly.

"But the bad news is, the mental girl, she knows the password," Nathan informed them. "Monkey slut is blown!"

The reality of this sunk in to us all. I knew that _I _wasn't Lucy, but she could have been any of the others- Kelly, Alisha, Curtis, Simon. Almost simultaneously, the four of us all raised our pieces of equipment, all of us tightening our grip on them.

"She could be any one of us!" said Simon fearfully.

"I think you can…rule me out!" gasped Nathan.

"It's not me!" I said quickly, seeing the others' eyes all dart to me.

"It ain't me!" said Kelly.

"It's not me either!" said Alisha.

"We need to prove it!" said Simon, looking intently at us all. He pointed at me. "Use your power!"

"Fine!" I said exasperatedly. I was quite grateful for feeling so scared now. I seized the scuff of Simon's jumpsuit, and I could feel it burning under my hand. Smoke began wafting out from the material, and I quickly let go. The material that had been orange was now a charred black. "Right, done. I'm me. Alisha, you go."

Alisha huffed a sigh, and I could tell this wasn't something she wanted to do at all. However, she eventually reached up and pressed a hand to Simon's neck. The effect was instantaneous. All the veins under Simon's skin became a lot bluer and bolder, as he looked at Alisha hungrily and announced, "I wanna ram my cock in your hairy armpit!"

With a noise of revulsion, Alisha removed her hand, exclaiming, "Happy now?!" and Simon dropped to the floor like a sack of puppies. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Poor Simon, apparently always choice of target when it came to demonstrating our powers.

"Cock, armpit," Nathan notified him as he shakily climbed to his feet. "It wasn't pretty. Right, you're up." Nathan pointed at him. "Do your thing." Simon closed his eyes and went rigid for a second. Then he let out a small yell and dissolved into thin air.

"Monkey slut!" shouted Curtis, suddenly appearing round a corner just as Simon twitched back to visible-ness. He looked at Nathan. "No way…" Nathan just shrugged.

"That's not Curtis," proclaimed Kelly suddenly, glaring at him. "I can 'ear 'er finkin'!"

"What?" Curtis frowned.

"If you're you, rewind time!" ordered Alisha.

"You know it doesn't work like that!" Curtis insisted. Without any form of warning, Kelly suddenly swung her baseball bat at Curtis, whacking him around the head with a loud _crack_ing noise. Curtis went down instantly, and Alisha hurried off, saying she was going to find the _real_ Curtis.

Kelly bound Curtis-Lucy's hands behind his back with some twine or something and dragged him into a sitting position. Blood was pulsing out of a wound on his head, sticking to his cheek.

"What are we gonna do with her?" I asked.

"There's only one fing we can do," answered Kelly, producing a plastic bag from God knows where. She pulled it down over Curtis-Lucy's head. Then it twigged. Kelly was going to suffocate him. _God, that must be a vicious way to die._

"That's pretty brutal," wheezed Nathan, echoing my thoughts.

"We can't kill her!" insisted Simon.

"She knows too much!" cried Kelly.

"That's not a legit reason to kill someone!" I said frantically. But according to Kelly it was, as she refused to remove the plastic bag from over Curtis-Lucy's head, slowly tightening it.

"STOP!" Simon yelled, just as the entire room was plunged into darkness. I couldn't see anything, it was literally wall-to-wall darkness. I could hear the others moving about, along with Nathan's strenuous breathing. He was on his way out, I could tell.

"What was that?!" Kelly suddenly shouted.

"Is somethin' happenin'?" gasped Nathan. I daren't move, as I was scared I'd end up walking in to someone or something. The lights remained off for another minute or so, until they suddenly flickered back on again, just as bright and fluorescent as they had been before. That was when I noticed that Curtis-Lucy was missing.

"Er, guys?" I said. "Not to panic anyone but Lucy's gone missing. Again."

Simon's phone suddenly started to ring, and he pulled it up to look at the Caller ID. "'Oo is it?" demanded Kelly impatiently.

Simon looked up from his phone, which was still ringing, and blinked at Kelly in disbelief. "It's you."

* * *

"_Welcome to the nightmare,  
__In my head (Oh God),  
Say hello to something scary,  
The monster in your bed,  
Just give in and you won__'__t be sorry.__"  
_**-Halestorm, ****"****Mz Hyde****"**

**A/N- Guys, did I do something wrong in the last chapter? Was it that bad? I only got two reviews, so I'm guessing it sucked. I'd love you to review this chapter, pwetty pwease wiv a chewwy on top? Xx Gee xX**

**References:  
**"…**like Romeo and Juliet. If Romeo was a twat" is from **_**Geordie Shore**_**.  
**"**We whack the fucker and we got her" is from **_**A Nightmare On Elm Street**_** (the awesome 1984 one, not the shitty 2010 one) ****if you substitute the 'her' for 'him'.**


	22. A Question Of Time

**A/N- Just thought you guys might want to know that this is now officially the most successful FanFiction I've ever written! I know it looks like the only one, but I've had others that I've hated then deleted…so yeah. Ooh, and I've also passed 5,000 views! Yay! Super duper thanks to Beebopalula, Becca, Guest, Cii and Gwenlynn for reviewing!**

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**Chapter Twenty-Two- A Question Of Time**

Confusion didn't even _begin _to cover what I was feeling right now. If it was Kelly that was calling Simon, that meant it wasn't Kelly who was standing here with us, it was Lucy, which meant…ah, shit. We'd tried to kill the real Curtis. Kelly looked down at the floor, and when she looked back up again, her eyes had gone entirely black.

"Simon, get away from her!" I yelled, running forwards, but I was too late. 'Kelly' reached out and slammed Simon against a locker so that he hit his head, causing him to fall to the floor.

"Barry!" cried Nathan, sounding pained.

I jumped in front of her and went to whack her with my bat, but she grabbed hold of me by the lapel of my jumpsuit and cracked my head against the corner of a locker like she had with Simon.

Dazed, I slid down to the floor next to Simon, my vision going fuzzy. Oh Jesus, I was going to pass out. Pain radiated from the back of my head, and when I raised my hand to check for a wound, I felt blood stickily congealing in my hair. As I caught sight of the crimson blood streaking my fingers, I nearly blacked out there and then. No, _I had to stay awake_.

That was when I heard the shrieking, and I blearily looked up. 'Kelly' was standing there, screaming awfully and clawing at her face like she was trying to rip the skin clean off. I blinked, and suddenly it wasn't Kelly standing there anymore, but Lucy.

"Lucy, what are you doing?" I asked her, blinking hard. Were stars _supposed _to be inside? Haha…pretty…

"Why are you doing this?" asked Simon, looking up at her.

"These _new friends _you've made," she hissed. "They've turned you against me!"

"Lucy, nobody has turned us against you!" I insisted, pressing a hand over the back of my head and feeling blood ooze on to my palm. "We're the same people we were in the unit!"

"_No you're not_!" she roared, so loudly that I cowered back against the locker, drawing my knees up to my chin. "I know what I have to do now," she continued, sliding down to the floor next to Simon. She leaned forward and trailed a finger down his face. "You're going to walk into the police station, and confess to murdering your probation worker. They'll lock you up in the unit, we'll be together again!" She leaned forward and lightly kissed Simon on the mouth for a few seconds, before pulling back. When she did, her eyes were that chilling shade of liquid black.

"Okay, so this is all about Simon?" I demanded woozily. "Right, I'll just _pretend_ that didn't sting!"

Lucy ignored me. Instead, she stood up and started doing that awful screaming thing again. She was pulling at her face, almost like she was trying to rearrange everything. Her screams began deepening, and she started practically flickering, her appearance starting to change between her and another person. A person in orange…Lucy was gone. I was now looking at two Simons. I looked over at Nathan, who was still impaled on that pipe, to check I hadn't gone into double vision. Nope, I was good.

"I'm doing this for us," Lucy-Simon informed Normal Simon, who was still on the floor, blood still dribbling out of the wound on his head that had occurred when Lucy had slammed him into that locker.

"Lucy!" he called after her as she walked off.

"Lucy!" I shouted as well, but her footsteps died down until the only noises in the locker room were the pained grunts Simon and I were making as we tried to stand up, and Nathan's now extremely contrived breathing. I blinked, hard, and the stars beginning to cloud my vision disappeared. Thank God, the pain was subsiding.

Using the locker to support myself, I dragged myself into a standing position and placed a hand over the wound on my head. When I pulled the hand away, the only blood on it was dried. Phew, I'd stopped bleeding. I helped Simon get to his feet, and was about to ask him what we should do, when Nathan started making some strange, weak gasping noises.

"Nathan!" I cried, running over to him. This was it. He was going.

"Don't worry about me," he joked faintly. "I'll just die. Again." He made one more gasping noise, and his eyes glazed over. His entire body went limp, and his head flopped forward. I looked at his chest, and it remained still. Yeah, he was dead. I gently tilted his head up, and his face had that same frozen expression it had had the first time he'd died. Could that really have only been a week ago?

I could feel a few tears well up in my eyes and spill over, but I wiped them away furiously. There was no point in crying. Nathan would be back in a few hours, of course he would. He was immortal. He _couldn't _die.

I turned back to Simon, who was leaning back against one of the lockers, his head in his hands. "What are you waiting for?" I snarled. "Go after her!"

"But what about you?" he said. "What about…" He trailed off, gesturing at Nathan.

"I'll be fine! Just _go_!" I said urgently. "You're the only one who has a chance of stopping her! From what's just happened, she doesn't really give two flying fucks about me! So go!" Simon hesitated for a minute. "_Go_!" Simon nodded, and hurried out the locker room door. He'd need to be fast to catch up with Lucy. Right. Now I was alone, I had to think. What was I supposed to do about the whole 'dead, impaled boyfriend' situation?

Leave him on the wall to avoid too much blood loss? No, he'd wake up with that pipe still sticking in him and die again of shock or something.

Pull him off the pipe and leave him to bleed out on the floor, and hope that everything healed nicely? Too much of a risk.

Pull him off the pipe and try to patch up the injury as best I could? Bingo.

I could already tell this was going to be a seriously messy operation, but it was something I had to do. I took a deep breath, steeling myself. Okay, go. I grabbed both of Nathan's arms and hauled. _Jesus, _he was wedged on that pipe good and proper.

"Oh come on!" I muttered, heaving a bit more. I looked at Nathan's lifeless face. "You can never make things easy for me, can you? You couldn't have died the easy way, like by getting stabbed, could you? Oh no, you had to get fucking _impaled _of all things." It was official. I was crazy. I was talking to a dead body, for crying out loud!

I pulled again, and I could feel Nathan's body slowly, very slowly, easing off of the pipe. It made a disgusting squelching noise, causing me to retch several times. But eventually, I got Nathan off the pipe and lied him down on the locker room floor. Oh God, he was bleeding so much. But it wasn't normal blood, it was all congealed and coagulated. I had to do something to sort this out, otherwise he'd die of blood loss the second he woke up. I grabbed the first aid kit that was hanging up on the locker room wall, opened it and grabbed the roll of bandages. Since my First Aid training was still in date, it was the first time I'd ever had to use it.

I shrugged Nathan's jumpsuit down off his shoulders and arms and left it around his waist. I steeled myself to lift up his t-shirt to see what the damage was. Fuck me, there was just _so much blood_. I couldn't do this; I'd hurl. No, I had to. For Nathan. I pulled some paper towels out of the dispenser, ready to mop the blood up.

I took a deep breath, and lifted his t-shirt up. I very nearly did puke. The pipe had left a great gaping wound in Nathan's stomach, and blood was still pumping out of it, staining my pale hands dark red. I pressed a wodge of paper towels over the wound, but they soaked through in seconds. As I continuingly changed paper towels to absorb all the blood, I breathed shallowly, always through my mouth to avoid the choking rust-and-salt stench.

Jesus, the blood was everywhere- on the floor, saturating the paper towels, staining my hands. But the flow of it from Nathan's wound had slowed down, and after another ten minutes it had stopped completely. Thank fuck. I wiped my slightly sweaty forehead with my hand, accidentally smearing some of Nathan's blood over my eyebrows.

Okay, now that the bleeding had stopped I would be able to put on the bandage. I grabbed the sterile white cotton that I had put in my pocket and used up the entire roll to tightly dress the wound. Once I'd finished, I sat back against the wall, breathing heavily, looking at Nathan.

Oh God, he looked so still. I hated this, this waiting. I was so worried. What if the resurrection was a one-time thing? Like, he'd been given a second chance after falling off the roof, and that had been it? What if he never woke up? What if he stayed dead? What if this was it? The _what if_s began building up like a crescendo of panic in my mind, until I cracked and began screaming. I stuffed the collar of my jumpsuit into my mouth to stifle the noise, but it didn't subside much, and it seemed like I was screaming forever.

But eventually, the screams died in my throat, which was now kind of sore. Time to think. _I need to slow down here. Try to figure out logically what's going on…woah, that hurt! Okay, we'll come back to that…_

Well, cleaning up seemed as logical an idea as any. I didn't really want to leave Nathan's body unattended, but what could happen to him, really? Alisha, Kelly and Curtis had ostensibly vanished in a puff of smoke, and Simon was hunting down Lucy. I hunted around the storage locker for bleach and cleaning rags, and thankfully found a nearly-full bottle of the stuff. I hurried back to the locker rooms, and began scrubbing at the dried stains on the floor.

The cleaning itself took another bloody hour, and Nathan _still_ hadn't woken up. I was really starting to worry now. Right, breathe. He would be fine. I just needed to give him time, let the wound heal, the blood replenish in his veins and just _give. Him. Time. _I decided to move him up to the little platform-balcony thing he slept on. I didn't know why. I guess I just wanted him to wake up somewhere that wasn't a slightly bloodstained locker room.

I lifted Nathan underneath the arms and literally dragged him out of the locker rooms. His trainers made an ominous squeaking noise as they scraped along the slippery linoleum. It was hard work getting him up those stairs, and I nearly inadvertently dropped him once or twice, and I may or may not have accidentally clunked his head against the railings as I turned him on to the actual platform, but it wasn't like he could feel it. I positioned him lying down on the floor, and sat down facing him.

Now it was just a matter of waiting. It seemed like the seconds were going by even slower. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Is that a crocodile I hear? Haha. Everything seemed so much louder: the water running through the pipes concealed in the walls, the ticking of the clock, the creaks of the old building, my heartbeat, my breathing.

My phone suddenly started ringing, making me jump out of my skin. I scrambled for the phone in my pocket, desperate for some kind of human contact. I preyed it was one of the others, and I got my wish. It was Simon.

"Simon?!" I said frantically, the second I'd pressed the accept call button. "What is it? Did you catch up to Lucy? Did she tell the police?! What happened?!"

"Georgia, calm down!" he said, sounding weary. "Let me tell you."

"Right, sorry," I said. "I got a bit carried away. I am _freaking out _here on my own!"

"It's okay," he said comfortingly. "Lucy didn't go to the police. I managed to convince her not to tell them."

"Where is she now?"

"She went back to the unit. I felt so bad for her. Nobody our age should have to go through what she is."

"You and me did," I muttered. "And we turned out just fine. Well, minus the community service and the superpowers. Sure, I'm not exactly the sanest cactus in the Sahara, but she practically tried to kill you and me, and she _did _try to kill Curtis! Last time I checked, we haven't tried to kill anybody!" An awkward silence. "Oh yeah. Right."

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you not to worry anymore. I'll see you and the others in the morning. We'll need to decided what to do with Sally."

"Yeah, we seriously do." I paused, yawning. "Alright, see you in the morning. Bye, Simon." I hung up the phone, sticking it back in the leg pocket of my jumpsuit. I sighed in relief. At least we didn't have to worry about being arrested. I leaned my head against the wall. I was so goddamned tired. I closed my eyes. I was just resting them. I needed to stay awake. Ow, my head was still throbbing from where I'd hit it on the locker. I could feel myself slowly drifting into a doze. _Stay awake…pain…death…Nathan…stay awake…insanity…alone…stay awake…Nathan…wake…tick, tock…tick, tock…_

* * *

"Georgia? Georgia, wake up!" I recognized Nathan's (slightly hazy) voice almost instantaneously. My eyes snapped open. It took a while, but Nathan's face swam into focus, looking exactly as he had before he'd died. His skin was no longer ashen from the blood loss, and his eyes were alive and bright.

"Nathan! Oh, thank God!" I breathed in relief, throwing my arms around him and pulling him into a fierce hug. His arms went tight around my waist as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. He removed an arm from my waist and used his hand to tip my face up so he could kiss me. It was slow, gentle, which was slightly unlike Nathan, but hey. I wasn't going to complain.

When we broke apart, I leaned back against the wall again, and Nathan leaned against the railings. I stretched my legs out, overlapping mine over his. "I was so scared, Nathan. I thought…I didn't know if you'd wake up."

Nathan snorted. "Immortality, love. It means never bein' able to die."

"Ha-fucking-ha. I know what immortality means. I was just worried that you _weren't _immortal, that the whole returning from the dead had been a one-time occurrence." When Nathan snorted again, I felt slightly irritated. "So you managed to not shit yourself this time then?"

"Apparently not," he said, looking down at himself as though to check, before looking back at me. "So that's progress."

"Congratulations, baby. I'm so proud of you," I said sarcastically. I waited for him to reply, but instead he fixed me with that same guilty-looking stare that he had earlier. I did not have a good feeling about this. There were very few times that a serious Nathan meant good news. "What's the matter."

"Listen. That stuff I said about your…huge vagina," he said ashamedly, causing me to blush. I had totally forgotten about that. "I didn't mean it. It's a beauty."

"Thanks, babe," I said, rolling my eyes. "I can always count on you to lower the tone. It's stuff you say all the time. It's just who you are."

"I can change," he said, still sounding quite serious.

I shook my head. "No. I don't want you to change," I said quietly. I leaned forward and lightly kissed him, before jumping to my feet and holding out my hand to him. "Come on. It's like three in the morning. We should go and try and get a couple more hours of sleep before tomorrow. Big day of burying and all that." Nathan nodded, standing up and taking my hand as he did so.

Nathan and I walked out of the community centre practically joined together, Nathan had his arm around my shoulders and I had mine around his waist. It was totally dark still outside, and I was just a little bit scared. Still, it gave me an excuse to snuggle in closer to Nathan.

A question was niggling away in the back of my mind, so I decided to just go ahead and ask, "So is there any particular reason you thought I'd insulted the size of your penis, or was it just your brain having a serious malfunction?"

"Er…well…" He drew out both sounds. "Just promise you won't get all pissed off like you do, yeah?"

"Oh Jesus. Because you've said that, I now automatically think it's going to be something that'll piss me off. But fine, yeah, I promise. Just tell me."

Nathan sighed. "Okay, so I was in the toilets, takin' a piss, y'know, as you do. Then the door opened and you…well, the psycho chick pretendin' to be you walked in, wearin' nothin' but your…er, her…underwear. Which, by the way, I'm seriously hopin' is the underwear you're wearin' now," he added with a wink. "Anyway, so she comes sidlin' up and gives me this whackin' great kiss before tellin' me to get naked. What was I supposed to do, say no?" he said, slightly defensively as he saw my raised eyebrows. "You're pissed off, aren't you?"

"Well, while I'm not entirely thrilled that another girl kissed you, I'm not pissed at _you_," I said. "You thought it was me, and I can't hold that against you. Just, next time there's a psycho doppelganger on the loose pretending to be me, double-check the girl wandering around wearing her underwear is actually me, 'kay?"

* * *

Once we got back to my flat, there was nothing either of us wanted to do more than just go to sleep. After taking off our jumpsuits, we both collapsed on my bed and fell asleep in each other's arms until my alarm clock went off a few hours later.

After that, the day passed as it usually did: cleaning up shit, picking up shit, washing shit and trying not to call the new probation worker practically every offensive name under the sun. Everyone seemed a bit more subdued than usual, but that was to be expected after the day we'd had yesterday.

But eventually, the sun went down and we headed up to the old, abandoned storage room upstairs, where it turned out Alisha and Curtis had hidden Sally's body again. God, déjà vu much? We stood around the freezer, discussing how we were going to dispose of the body, and eventually decided to go with one of the ideas from our First Dead Probation Worker days: weighing the corpse down and tossing it into the lake.

"It's at times like this that I really, _really _wish I'd done something with my life," I said, carrying a load of cinderblocks down to the lake bank with Kelly and Alisha as the boys dragged Sally's plastic-wrapped body behind us. The six of us (seven if you counted the corpse) clambered into a random rowboat by the lake, and the boys began rowing us out into the middle of the lake.

It was quiet for a while, the only sounds the gentle lapping of the water, everyone's breathing, and the occasional nomming noise as Nathan ate a Cornetto he found in the freezer Sally had been stored in.

"I gotta tell ya," he said happily. "I'm lovin' this whole immortality gig!"

"So you don't mind dying all the time?" asked Simon quietly.

"Yeah, it's scary, and it's painful, and my mum still can't get the stains out of those trousers," he admitted. "But there's a definite upside."

"You reckon?" said Alisha doubtingly. "What, you'll have to get a job and work forever?"

"You could go a hundred years without getting laid," put in Curtis.

"You'll never properly grow up," I added.

"Everyone you love will die," concluded Simon pessimistically.

"Yeah, whatever," Nathan said dismissively. "In…" he counted on his fingers. "Six weeks, it's all gonna change."

"Wot's 'appenin' in six weeks?" asked Kelly.

"We finish our community service!" he said excitedly.

"What're you gonna do then?" asked Curtis.

"I'm gonna join the circus!" Nathan announced. "Right, they can throw knives at me, stick swords in me, shoot me in the face! People pay good money to see that shit, and then I'm makin' serious cash! And where the cash goes, the pussy follows! No offence, ladies!" I raised my eyebrows at him, and he quickly backtracked with a, "Just kiddin', just kiddin'."

I mock-coughed, "Sexist dickhead!" then smiled sweetly at him. "Just kidding, _babe_."

Nathan was about to reply when Simon cut across him, looking at Curtis. "So who was it who saved your life?"

"I dunno," said Curtis, sounding mystified. "Some guy in a mask."

"Batman?" I suggested.

"Of course it weren't fucking Batman. The only reason I needed saving is because you're all fucking idiots!" he said angrily.

"Don't start on me 'cause I weren't even there!" exclaimed Kelly.

"It was me!" Nathan said dramatically. We all looked at him in surprise. "I saved you." We stared at him in astonishment and disbelief as he stared back with an intense expression.

"How?!" asked Simon, his mouth a few centimetres from hanging open in shock.

Nathan scoffed. "Come on! I'm jokin'! Seriously?"

"Still a prick," muttered Curtis.

"Someone else knows about us!" Simon said urgently. "We need to find out who it is!" He looked at me.

I shrugged. "Sure, why not? I've always wanted to be a spy. I can be like that girl from that old TV show on that TV channel Jetix. Y'know, that _Totally Spies _show. What was her name? Clover? Yeah, Clover."

"Urgh, haven't we done enough for one week?" whined Nathan. "We almost killed another probation worker," he looked at Simon. "You had your first blow job, I died, _again_. It's not even the weekend! Let's just dump her and worry about that stuff next week! Or maybe even the week after that."

"Right, this'll do," said Curtis, and he and Simon both stopped rowing.

"Alright," said Nathan. He stuck his ice-cream into his mouth to keep it safe and shifted his position so he was able to get a grip on the corpse. He, Simon and Curtis then all shoved, and the body did a practical backflip off the side of the boat, submerging with such an ear-splitting splash that I was certain someone would hear us, and I tensed. But when nobody came out to investigate, I relaxed. We'd gotten away with it. But as we paddled back to shore, I noticed something that made me go stiff again.

I looked up, and made out the shape of someone standing on top of one of the buildings by the lake. I squinted, trying to make out what it was in the gloom. It was a person, dressed all in black like some kind of ninja, wearing what looked like a paintballing mask to conceal their face. Oh my God. The guy in the mask. I was so startled, I made a quiet squeak of surprise.

"You alright, Georgia?" asked Nathan, his hand splayed at the small of my back.

I turned to him and smiled wanly. "Yeah, I'm fine." I looked back up to the shape, which was standing there rigidly, like they were hoping I'd look away. _Who are you? _I thought.

* * *

"_Time goes by so slowly,  
For those who wait.  
No time to hesitate.  
Those who run seem,  
To have all the fun.  
I'm caught up,  
I don't know what to do."  
_**-Madonna, "Hung Up"**

* * *

**A/N- Sorry it's a bit shorter than usual, guys. I hope y'all liked it anyway. Leave a review, they're awesome, great, blah blah blah. Love you all! Xx Gee xX**

**References:"I need to slow down here. Try to figure out logically what's going on…woah, that hurt! Okay, we'll come back to that…" is from **_**Batman: The Animated Series**_**, from the ****episode **_**Beware the Creeper**_**.  
"Tick, tock, tick, tock. Is that a crocodile I hear?" is from **_**Batman: Arkham Asylum**_**.**


	23. Oh, Brother

**A/N- It's been a bit longer than usual, but here's chapter twenty-three, my friends! Thanks a bundle to Beebopalula, JackieOh and Guest for reviewing!**

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**Chapter Twenty-Three- Oh, Brother**

Well this was unexpected. A couple of days later, when I woke up I almost completely passed out from shock. It was sunny. Not just sunny, but at least twenty-two degrees. Sunlight was flooding the estate in a way I'd never seen before, skimming over the dried gum and dog shit smears on the pavements and making everything look like some kind of fairyland. It was way too hot to be bothered with any work, so us six ASBOees ended up lounging on the roof.

I didn't bother with any inhibitions as I unzipped my jumpsuit down to the waist and tied the arms in the same way Curtis did, revealing my zebra print bra to the world. Life was to short to be bothered with embarrassment. I saw Nathan give me a slightly lewd look, the look he always seemed to wear whenever he saw me getting unchanged. I blew him an exaggerated kiss before slumping back on one of the loungers, sticking one of my headphones in my ear, leaving the other trailing back over my shoulder, blasting _The Way _by Ariana Grande featuring Mac Millar.

I closed my eyes, singing along, albeit out of tune. "On a scale of one to ten, I'm at a hundred. Never get enough, I can't stay away." It sounded cheesy, the 'perfect relationship' theme of the song, but I liked it.

Call it wishful thinking, but I was hoping that one day mine and Nathan's relationship would turn into something similar to what the song described. Hoping was probably futile though. Nathan was incapable of taking anything seriously, something that was seriously backed up as I opened my eyes to Alisha groaning, "Urgh, seriously! Put some clothes on!"

Nathan was standing by the edge of the roof, stripped completely to his underwear, and was smearing sun cream on to his leg in a way that I could only describe as faintly horrifying.

"Nathan, please step away from the edge of the roof!" I called over to him. "Nobody, and I mean _nobody _wants to see the sight of you in your underwear!"

"Come on! Who says you can't have an ASBO and an all-over tan?" he quipped.

"Most people?" I retorted.

"Urgh, _wrong_," retched Curtis. I was about to say something in agreement when there was a sudden sharp, short whistle from the pavement below us. Nathan looked down in surprise.

"I'm lookin' for Nathan," rang out a male voice, a voice with a distinct Irish accent.

"Why?" said Nathan quickly. "Why're you lookin' for him? Who're you?"

A slightly pregnant pause. Then, "I'm his brother!"

Nathan scoffed in disbelief, which probably offended the poor guy down below. "I haven't got a brother! I'm a classic example of an only child!"

"Not anymore!" replied the guy.

"How is that even possible?!" demanded Nathan.

"We've got the same dad," explained the guy, slightly sarcastically.

"And you're sure about that?" Nathan asked, still sounding doubtful.

"He didn't tell you about me?" asked the guy, now sounding a vaguely offended.

"I guess it slipped his mind!" Nathan shouted. There was another pause. Nathan looked to be seriously disconcerted by this news. An illegitimate brother turning up out of the blue is enough to do someone with a normal brain capacity's head in. No wonder Nathan seemed practically speechless. Then he smiled. "Yeah, okay. Yeah, I've always wanted a brother!"

He turned around and retrieved his jumpsuit from the ground and quickly pulled it on, before turning around and practically sprinted down the stairs to meet the boy.

"Well I'm not missing this," I said, standing up and pulling my own jumpsuit back up, zipping it up halfway as I hurried down the stairs after Nathan. I could hear the others coming after me. I guessed they were as curious to see this as I was.

The boy standing next to Nathan, who was talking animatedly at the boy, looked slightly older than me, but younger than Nathan. I'd say he was about nineteen or twenty. He had light cropped hair, and a tattoo on his neck, plus an earring in his left ear. Nathan introduced him as Jamie once the five of us had gathered in a kind of semi-circle in front of the two of them.

"So little bro, lemme introduce ya to the gang," he said proudly. He began gesturing at each of us in turn. "Mr Sports Guy is Curtis, the frizzy one's Alisha, the one with the ponytail is Kelly, the one with the freaky starin' eyes is Barry, and the emo-lookin' one with the big tits is me beautiful girlfriend Georgia."

"I won't be if you start calling me that!" I shot back, but I allowed him to put his arm around me and give me a kiss.

"Er, hi," Jamie said awkwardly.

"So me and Jamie have got a lot of catchin' up to do," announced Nathan. "So we're goin' to the pub."

"Er, haven't you forgotten something?" I asked. When Nathan just fixed me with a blank look, I sighed. "Community service? Ring any bells? Our shift isn't over for hours."

"Pfft, I'm sure you'll think of somethin'," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "You're smart and shit, just tell the probation worker I'm in the locker room or somethin'. I'll see you cats on the flip-flop! Later!" And with that, he threw an arm around Jamie's shoulders and dragged him off in the direction of the nearest pub.

As we watched them amble off together, I felt something warm stir in my chest. I thought it was really great that this had happened to Nathan. Maybe he'd grow up now, maybe become a little bit more mature. Ha, who was I kidding? Nathan, grow up? He had a better chance of sprouting wings than growing up.

But before I could dwell on this thought any longer, we were provided with an oh so charming diversion. We all had to go down to the lake and fish out all the rubbish people had dumped in the water. No, scratch that, we had to go _in _to the lake to get out the rubbish. We really were living the fucking dream.

I had never looked more attractive than when I was wearing a pair of gigantic rubber protective overalls with the built-in wellies. God, they had to be the most unappealing, uncomfortable garment known to man. I could now appreciate how sausages felt, being all stuffed into that skin. The fact it was seriously hot combined with the tight rubber made me feel overheated and slightly cranky.

"That is fucking disgusting," groaned Alisha, who was sitting on a half-submerged shopping trolley, a plastic bag filled with water and something unidentifiable dangling from her rubber gloved index finger. I gagged in agreement, shoving what must have been the fourteenth trolley out of the lake and on to the concrete bank.

Suddenly, the probation worker appeared round the corner, whirling his ID card around in the air like he usually did. He paused as he looked at us, and I could see him processing the fact there was only five of us, not six. "Where's Nathan?"

"He's in the locker room," lied Simon.

"That's funny," said the probation worker with a derisive scoff. "Because I was just in there. I didn't see him."

"'E 'ad a family emergency," retorted Kelly.

"What kind of emergency?" asked the probation worker.

"His brother came to see him," replied Curtis.

"And how is that an emergency?"

"He's got cancer!" snapped Alisha.

"Oh really?" said the probation worker, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

"Yeah, 'is brother was all cryin' and shit," said Kelly. "It was really sad. I fink 'e needed a drink."

"Oh, so Nathan's taken him to the pub, has he?"

We all nodded, but then it occurred to me that we probably weren't supposed to tell him that. Oh well. What was he going to do, go to the pub and drag Nathan out? I doubted it.

The probation worker looked at us like we were all idiots. "His brother hasn't got cancer, has he?"

"He might have!" sneered Alisha, sassily dropping the plastic bag she was still holding back into the water.

"He should feel for lumps," suggested Simon quietly, making little nipping gestures with his thumb and index finger. "In his…testicles." I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself bursting into uncontrollable laughter. The probation worker stared at us impassively for a few more seconds, before making a noise of unamused scoffing and heading back in the direction of the community centre.

The second the probation worker vanished from sight, I stopped biting my cheek and burst out laughing, throwing an arm around Simon. "Oh my God, Simon. Where the hell do you think of things like that? I think that statement has made my day. I love you, man." As usual, Simon was unsure how to respond to my random outburst of affection, so he just shot me one of his cute little hesitant smiles.

After that, it was back down to business. I kicked around in the water, stirring up the mud at the bottom and letting all the shit rise to the top. Nice, so we had a rotten hot dog, a can with a frog stuffed half into it, and…was that half a dildo? What the _fuck_? Who the fuck dumped half a dildo into a lake? Scratch that, why was the dildo _in half_?! The human race really was a mystery.

The rest of the shift dragged on…and on…and on. Cleaning out the lake was rapidly becoming slit-your-wrists-boring. My boots got stuck in the mud at one point, and in the process of trying to de-suctionify myself, I slipped and ended up on my arse, water pooling around me up to my boobs. It was at that point that I just gave up with it all and waded out of the water, going to get changed.

It was then that I noticed something. We'd been cleaning out that lake for over six hours, and Nathan had never shown up. He hadn't even called or anything. I missed him. The reason today had been so goddamned boring was partly because he hadn't been there. God, I felt pathetic. Was I seriously going to turn into one of those girls who needed her boyfriend around her constantly to make her feel wanted? I fucking hoped not.

As I wandered home, enjoying the feeling of the hot sun on my bare skin that was exposed by my denim shorts and white camisole, I started to wonder _why _he hadn't called me. Had something happened to him and Jamie? I knew that he wasn't dead, he couldn't die, but what if something bad had happened to Jamie? Jesus, I was panicking now. I pulled my phone out and dialled Nathan's number, but it went straight to voicemail.

"_You've reached the voicemail of the one and only Nathan Young. Congratulations, 'cause this means you're fortunate enough to have my number. But I really can't be fucked to take your call, so leave a message._"

"Nathan!" I said the second the beep sounded. "Where the fuck are you?! You've been gone for hours and to be honest, I'm kinda freaking out! I don't want to sound like some whiney little bitch girlfriend but please, just…ring me, as soon as you can, alright?!"

* * *

He didn't call. Now I was just getting offended. He must have looked at his phone at some point and seen my message. Why was he ignoring me? Had I irritated him? Well, he sure as hell was irritating _me_ now. There was going to be a lot for me to say to him when I did see him, and none of it was going to be polite.

Later that evening, as I chilled out on my bed watching _Snow White and the Huntsman _on my laptop (and was busy fangirling over Chris Hemsworth), I heard my front door open.

"Nathan, that better bloody well be you!" I shouted, moving my laptop off my lap and getting up.

"Yeah, it's me," came his reply. I padded barefoot out the bedroom and went into the living room. Nathan was sprawled along the pink sofa with his feet on the coffee table. Jamie was standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, looking at the pictures on the walls.

"Where the fuck have you been?" I wasted no time ripping into Nathan.

"Er, well, we started off at the pub…" he said, trailing off.

"What do you mean, _started off_?" I said dangerously.

"Well…"

"_Nathan_."

"There may have been a slight issue in the fact that Jamie locked Dad in the boot of his car, then the car got stolen by some random dickheads so I had to pretend I was gonna pay them for sex so Jamie could get the car. Then they started beatin' me with broken pipes and shit that ended in a totally epic car chase. Then when we were lettin' Dad out of the boot, the cops turned up and arrested us."

"What. The. Fuck. That sounds like something out of a really bad sitcom."

"I know, right?"

"So what happened with your dad? I can't imagine he took being locked in a boot too well."

The shutters came down on Nathan's face like a ton of bricks. Okay, so I clearly shouldn't have asked him that. "He wasn't happy, let's put it that way." God, he suddenly sounded so _down_. I knew his relationship with his dad wasn't that great at the best of times, but something really bad must have happened for him to look so sad.

I looked at Jamie out of the corner of my eye, and I saw him lean against the wall in a defeated kind of way. Poor guy. I knew their dad was a dickhead, from what Nathan had told me, but to just ignore and reject (which is what I assumed had happened) his long-lost son was just plain cruel. _Is he going to be alright? _I mouthed to Nathan, who shrugged in response.

"So are you guys hungry?" I said lightly, trying to turn the conversation off the topic of their father. "I can make you both a sandwich or something."

"Nah, you're alright, babe," replied Nathan, standing up and stretching. "I just wanted you to see that we weren't dead. I got your voicemail, and I figured it'd be better for me to see you now than for you to get even more pissed off with me when you saw me tomorrow which, knowin' you would result in you rippin' my balls off or somethin'."

"You figured correctly," I said with a grin. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a quick kiss. "Alright then. I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye Jamie!" I called after them as they headed up the hall and out the door.

I sat down on the sofa, just kind of…thinking. I was proud of Nathan. Proud that he was looking after his little brother, proud he wasn't going to act like a twat and completely seal up about what had happened with his dad, proud that he was actually acting mature for a change.

I also felt kind of covetous at the same time. Seeing Nathan with his brother made me see him in a different light. I wondered if it was the same with everyone. I knew I acted different when I was around my little brother; I was gentler, sweeter, kinder, and not a bitch. I was jealous because I missed Charlie so much. But it was time to face the music. No matter how much it killed me on the inside, I just had to accept I was probably never going to see him again, and be happy Nathan had found his brother.

* * *

I wandered my way to the community centre in half a daze the next morning. I didn't know why, but I felt ridiculously spaced-out and distracted. Then again, it didn't really take much to distract me. I had the attention span of a goldfish at the best of times.

Simon was already at the community centre when I arrived, leaning against the wall with his headphones in. His eyes were trained on the slow-rippling lake. He started when I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hi!"

"Good morning," was his somewhat formal greeting as he removed his headphones and put them in his pocket.

"So what do you reckon today's enchanting task will be?" I asked dryly. "Cleaning out the sewers or washing the public toilets?"

"Neither, hopefully."

"Yeah right, Simon. We're not that fortunate. I can guarantee it'll be one of them, or something even more fucking foul. Then again, maybe we'll get lucky and be allowed to pressure-wash the gum and dog shit off the pavements." Simon chuckled. "What? It's a possibility."

"I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that," he said with a smile.

"That makes two of us, my friend. So what did you get up to last night?" I asked.

"Not much," he replied. "I went online for a little while and then watched _Star Trek_. What about you? Did you find Nathan?"

"Not _find _him, per se, he came to me. Some shit apparently went on with his dad that he didn't want to talk about. Him and Jamie seemed pretty down about it though, so I didn't press it. Y'know, 'cause I'm a good girlfriend like that. It probably wasn't worth knowing anyway." Okay, so I was slightly lying. I'd been desperate to find out what had happened with Nathan and his dad, but I also didn't want to push him to the point where he completely closed off like he usually did. Speaking of Nathan…the doors of the community centre opened, and out walked Jamie, followed shortly Nathan himself.

"See you later," he called after his brother, who replied with a generic response before mooching off through the gates.

"Is your brother staying with you?" Simon asked him.

"Yeah," said Nathan almost wistfully, staring after Jamie. "I've always wanted a brother," he admitted, turning around to face us. "Someone to idolise me. I can advise him. Teach him stuff."

"_Teach him stuff_?" I repeated incredulously. "Nathan, what possible useful skills do you have that you could teach him?"

"Like, er…" Nathan sounded stumped. Then his features arranged themselves in an expression of indignance. "Does he know how to dance?"

"Do you?" asked Simon.

"Well I'll get lessons," Nathan said determinedly, hands on his hips. "Because that's what brothers do for each other." He turned back to look over the lake. "Do you have any brothers?" I knew he was directing this at Simon, because Nathan knew the whole story of my messed-up sibling relations.

"A sister," replied Simon. I could tell by the tender way he said it that he loved her a lot, and it made my heart ache as I thought of the totally unrepairable relationship I had with my own sister.

At the mention of a female, Nathan whipped round to face Simon. "Is she cute? I mean, I know I've got my own little cutie now-"

"Seriously? _Little cutie_?" I interrupted. "On what planet is that a term of endearment? It makes me sound like a rabbit."

"But you shoulda thought about gettin' me and her together," he continued, ignoring me. "Hey man, someone's going to! Better it was a close friend, you can trust, to be gentle, and respectful." Here he saw fit to add gyrating hip movements, before gesturing at himself with both hands. "Me."

A look of complete horror and disgust appeared on Simon's face. "She's _twelve_!"

"Oh," said Nathan, barely batting an eyelid while I shook my head in exasperation. "Maybe it would have been better to wait a couple of years, then." Simon just gaped at him in horrified shock.

"Does _anything _embarrass you?" I demanded.

"'Fraid not, love," he answered, just as the community centre front doors opened and Mr Unnamed Probation Worker appeared.

"You know, it's at times like that when it sometimes concerns me that I've made the willing decision to be your girlfriend," I said as the probation worker walked up to us, a gritty expression on his face.

"Something you wanna tell me?" he asked Nathan.

"Look, if it's about all that booze goin' missin' from the kitchen, I don't know anythin' about that!" Nathan replied quickly.

"It's about you disappearing to the pub yesterday," said the probation worker.

"Oh," said Nathan, drawing out the sound.

"Oh," mimicked the probation worker sarcastically.

"That. Forget the booze thing then," said Nathan in that naïvely serious way of his.

"Don't take the piss," warned the probation worker, pushing past Nathan and heading back towards the community centre.

"I never do," replied Nathan innocently, but he started making wanking gestures behind the probation worker's back. Simon and I both spluttered with laughter, which the probation worker must have heard as he turned around and caught Nathan mid-gesture. Nathan quickly lowered his hand and smiled ingenuously at the probation worker, who just rolled his eyes and went inside. The three of us spluttered with laughter again before heading inside to get changed.

After that, it was business as usual in the wonderful world of community service. Today we were handed fumigation masks, canisters of pesticide and a spray nozzle and told we were going to (drum roll please) spend the day killing the weeds that apparently were sprouting up over the estate. Fun, fun, fun…

The first couple of hours or so were spent with the six of us absent-mindedly spraying the concrete, as there didn't seem to be many of these so-called weeds around. Then I started to get seriously bored, so I started squirting pesticide at Nathan, coating his hair in the stuff. He grinned at me and in turn started spraying it at me, before we started chasing each other around, trying to squirt the other in the face. It was only when Simon warned us that pesticide was poisonous that we actually stopped. That was when Alisha suddenly called all of us over, wanting to show us something she had on her phone.

I didn't know what to expect as she clicked on her phone's video gallery, but it certainly wasn't the images that followed. It was him. The guy in the mask. Alisha had somehow managed to get hold of footage that showed him doing that parkour stuff that involved a lot of dramatic flips and jumps. All of us seemed seriously impressed by what the guy was doing. Well, all of us except Nathan.

"That's not so special," he scoffed after pulling down his mask as we watched the guy do about three backflips in a row from building to building.

"Hot damn, that's some serious skill," I muttered. We watched a few more seconds of footage before Nathan dismissively said, "Whatever!" and walked off.

"Who is this guy?" asked Curtis.

"I dunno. He's following me," replied Alisha.

Simon pulled down his gas mask. "I think he might have sent the note telling us to go to Nathan's grave!"

"Does 'e know about our powers?" asked Kelly worriedly. Simon nodded, pulling his mask back over his face.

"Seems logical that he would," I said. "After all, he knew enough to know how to save Curtis from that doppelgänger chick."

"He kinda reminds me of the guy who rescued me," said Nathan inattentively. All of our heads snapped up from Alisha's phone's screen to look at Nathan, who seemed to have absolutely no clue that he'd just said something _huge_.

"Er, did I miss something?" demanded Alisha disdainfully.

"Oh yeah. I got surrounded by a whole bunch of those Virtue virgins, right? I was just about to kick three kinds of shit outta them- girls included," he added, gesturing between me, Kelly and Alisha. "-and this fella swoops in on his BMX all dramatic-like and gives me a backie! The guy can peddle, I'll give him that."

"When was you gonna tell os?" snapped Kelly.

"I didn't think it was relevant!" he retorted defensively.

"Wait. A mysterious masked guy appears out of nowhere and rescues you?" said Curtis. "How is that not relevant?!"

Nathan only now seemed to register the fact that we were all severely pissed at him. "Alright, I'm sorry! I forgot!" He lifted his spray nozzle in irritation and accidentally sprayed us all with pesticide.

"We need to find him!" said Simon earnestly, again pulling down his gas mask.

"Look. If he wants to dick around trying to be a superhero, _let him_," said Alisha dismissively. "Who has time for that shit?"

"Er, Bruce Wayne?" I suggested. "Clark Kent, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Diana Prince, Steve Rogers, Barbara Gordon? I could keep going here."

"There's just the small matter that those people don't exist, love," said Nathan. "He's just a chancer, chancin' it. I mean, what does he actually _know_?"

"He seems to know everything!" replied Simon, sounding slightly rattled. However, at this point everyone seemed to have gotten bored of the guy in the mask. The topic just stopped. Curtis was just staring out to the lake, Alisha was checking her make-up, Nathan was playing with his nozzle (God, that sounded wrong) and Kelly suddenly grabbed me by the arm.

"We're all goin' out tonight. Are ya comin'?" she asked.

"Damn straight," I said with a grin. "I haven't had a decent night out in ages! We're gonna party like it's 3012, bitches!" I turned to Nathan. "You're coming as well, right?"

"Yeah, cool, man. I'll bring my little brother," he replied. "We are gonna be knee-deep in pussy!"

"I'm sorry, what?" I said, cocking my head to the side and raising my eyebrows.

"Sorry, _he_," Nathan corrected himself quickly. "_He _is gonna be knee-deep in pussy."

I snorted, before patting him patronizingly on the cheek. "That's what I thought you said."

* * *

"_Hey little brother,  
I need to say I love you."  
_**-The Jonas Brothers, "Hey Little Brother"**

**A/N- Okay, for starters, sorry it took a while longer for this chapter to be posted. Writer's block is a bitch, dude. Also, sorry for the slightly suckish ending. The next chapter will be the club one. Leave a review, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside! Xx Gee xX**

**References, as usual:  
"I'll see you cats on the flip-flop! Later!" is from **_**School of Rock**_**. (FYI, best movie **_**evah**_**.)**

"**We're gonna party like it's 3012," is from the Justin Bieber song **_**Beauty and a Beat**_** (Don't kill me)**


	24. A Night To Remember

**A/N- Hey guys! We've passed 6,000 views! I think that's awesome! Millions of thanks to Beebopalula, Gwenlynn (no, don't panic, I most certainly am **_**not **_**a Belieber! I just happen to like that song!) and Guest for their most epic reviews.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four- A Night To Remember**

"Let's rock this motherfucker!" I shouted, dancing around the living room with a towel around my shoulders and a load of dye smeared on to my hair.

"Georgia, shut up! Fucking hell, are you always this hyper before a night out?" asked Alisha, who was perched on my worktop, her legs dangling over the side.

"Pretty much, yeah," I replied, jumping on the sofa a couple of times before heading into my bedroom.

Once our community service shift had finished, we'd had exactly three hours until we were going to the shipping crates rave, so Kelly and Alisha had come round mine to get ready. I'd enlisted both of them into helping me re-dye my hair, as my gingerish roots now measured in at a centimetre long either side of my parting, which was so not a good look.

But now it was almost seven o'clock, half an hour before we had to leave. Kelly and Alisha were both dressed and ready, and I still had five minutes before I could wash my dye out, and I hadn't exactly chosen what I was going to wear yet. Fuck, this was a disaster! I had two choices: my red and white striped minidress and white knee-high wedge boots, or my black hotpants, pink cropped t-shirt with cute flared sleeves and black studded stiletto ankle boots.

"Alisha! Kelly!" I shouted. "I need your opinions, stat!" Both of them came practically running. I held up the dress in one hand and the hotpants in the other. "Skank dress or skank shorts?"

"Shorts," both of them replied simultaneously, and the three of us burst into raucous laughter.

"Shorts it is then," I said, before checking the time. "Right, the dye needs to come out. Can you guys give me a hand?" The washing out of the dye took another ten minutes, and by the end of it, my bath looked like an elephant had taken a giant shit in it, it was so stained with the brown dye. To save time, both girls grabbed my two hairdryers and blow-drying my hair at the same time.

"I'm not being funny, but you know we need to leave in ten minutes and you aren't dressed, right?" said Alisha, looking at her phone.

"Shit, really?" I asked. She nodded. "Fuck. Right, okay, so my game face is officially _on_. Let's do this." As Kelly and Alisha vacated the bedroom so I could change in peace, I stripped my skirt and t-shirt off at practically lightning speed before yanking my shorts up as quick as I could. Fuck me, they were shorter than I remembered, they barely covered my arse. Oh well. I put on my favourite pink push-up bra, then pulled the crop top on over it, baring my midriff. I quickly painted on my foundation, eyeliner and lipstick, tugged a brush through my hair and met the girls at my front door.

"Cuttin' it a bit close, ain't ya?" muttered Kelly as I opened the front door.

"Damn straight. Ever heard of 'fashionably late'?" I shot back, locking the door behind Alisha.

* * *

Call me inexperienced, but I'd never actually been to one of those shipping crate raves before. I'd gone clubbing before, obviously, but never in a makeshift club made of corrugated metal fused together. Thinking of it that way, it didn't sound very safe, did it? Knowing my luck, the whole place would collapse on us.

Simon and Curtis met us outside the crates, and the five of us headed inside together. Nathan had already texted me saying him and Jamie would be arriving a bit later. As I followed the others into the shipping crates, I heard a few girls behind us muttering something about "look at that fucking sket in the shitty pink crop top", to which I responded to with a middle finger and a shout of "you fucking foul-mouthed dumbfuck". And people say I'm not classy. While I was more than aware that I looked even more whorish than usual, this was the first night out I'd had in months and I wanted to look good. Fuck what everyone else thought.

Inside the crates/club it was absolutely packed, you literally had about a ten by ten centimetre square to walk in. The rave music was making the thin metal walls vibrate with the bass, and strobe lighting flashed in every section of the place. The five of us each grabbed a bottle of beer (or in my case, cider) and settled in a back corner of one of the rooms. Alisha had perched up on an empty oil drum, and she and Curtis were doing that cute little sort-of-touching-but-not-quite thing they did. I leaned back against one of the walls, discussing which _Avengers Assemble _character was my favourite with Simon.

"Seriously? Your favourite character is _Captain America_?" I said with a slight sneer. "Really?"

"What's wrong with Captain America?" Simon asked.

"Nothing, I love the guy. He's all cute and confused. But he's just so…boring. Sure, he can fight, but in the long haul he's just plain boring," I said.

"Who's your favourite character then?" he challenged.

"Thor, duh. He's Asgardian, meaning he's literally _a god_, he has the super awesome Mjolnir and he completely kicks arse! Plus, you know, Chris Hemsworth is fucking gorgeous."

"Er…okay?" said Simon, sounding unsure as to how he should reply. I just smiled at him and took a swig from my bottle.

Suddenly Nathan appeared out of nowhere in front of us, cracking a huge grin. "Hey," he shouted over the music.

"Hey," I shouted back, wrapping my arms around his waist. He grinned down at me and leaned forward, giving me a heated kiss. Just then, a random girl sidled up to Nathan with a small smile on her face. She had dark brown hair cut in a bob, and she was quite pale. In fact…all her features were reminiscent of mine, except her eyes were brown and mine were blue.

"Hey," Nathan greeted her.

"Who are you?" I asked her, trying for a sweet, butter-wouldn't-melt tone when part of me wanted to scream "fuck off away from my boyfriend" at her.

"She's Lily," said Jamie, also suddenly appearing. "We met her at the pub yesterday. I called her."

"Oh, right," I said, feeling my metaphorical claws retract. "Hi." The girl- Lily- smiled hesitantly. She and Jamie were soon deep in conversation, but I still kept a slightly possessive arm around Nathan's waist as we talked (well, more like shouted). Not that he seemed to mind, as he kept a hand constantly at the small of my back or on my hip as he drank steadily from a bottle of vodka he'd sneaked in.

I overheard Jamie mention something to Kelly about pills. That didn't sound to good. Sure enough, I found myself being offered an ecstasy. Oh God, drugs. I knew I was slowly killing myself with alcohol and cigarettes, but drugs were the one thing I'd always promised myself I wouldn't put in my body. Sure, I'd smoked cannabis. Once. But that wasn't that bad a drug, really, was it?

But still, I had the slightest feeling that I'd end up getting spiked or something in a place like this, so I'd rather get high off my own accord. So giving in to peer pressure, I took one of the pills and stuck it in my mouth, washing it down with a swig of Nathan's vodka. I heard Simon refuse a pill (nice to know his moral high ground was waaay higher than mine), but I watched in silence as Jamie dropped one in Simon's bottle when his back was turned. _Devious bastard_, I thought. I was tempted to tell Simon, but my low alcohol tolerance was catching up with me and my head was already starting to feel funny. Wow, three mouthfuls of vodka and a bottle of cider and I was already well on my way to becoming totally twatted.

Half an hour passed, then boom. Everything became so fucking _close_. We'd moved to the dancefloor, and Kelly, Alisha and Curtis were jumping and twitching around in approximations of dancing, and I was so completely fucked up that I randomly started slut-dropping in the middle of them, probably looking like a complete skank.

"Ow!" I cried out suddenly as a bone in my knee made a cracking noise sound. "Ow! Shit, my knee! Nathan! Help me!" I sat on the cold concrete floor clutching my knee, and I looked up through bleary eyes as Nathan grabbed hold of my arms and pulled me into a standing position, helping me limp over to the wall.

"Y'know, I think I like this side of you," he murmured in my ear as the pain slowly faded from my knee.

"What, the side where I'm complete inebriated and can barely gather any thoughts other than 'that is the last time I slut-drop'?"

"Well I was gonna say the side of you that seems a lot more carefree but yeah, that works too," he said with a grin. All of a sudden, he grabbed hold of me and roughly pulled my face up to kiss him. His hands rested on the bare skin of my hips and his thumbs traced small circles on my skin.

"Did I mention how incredibly fit you look tonight?" he mumbled against my mouth.

"Must have slipped your mind," I teased. "Because I don't recall it."

"Oh. Well, you do," he said, kissing me harder. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. The music was so loud, my eardrums felt like they were going to burst. My head felt really strange, and I guessed the drugs were starting to kick in. Nathan stopped kissing me and took my hand.

"Where are we going?" I slurred, but my question was answered as Nathan pushed open the door to the men's toilets. "No, Nathan. I'm not some kind of stereotypical skank-ho who fucks in the club toilets." He didn't bother acknowledging me in anyway as he opened up one of the cubicles and pushed me in. I went to protest, but I was in such a good mood (probably because I was high) that I couldn't be bothered.

Nathan pressed me up against the wall and moved forward to kiss me, but he suddenly pulled back, staring at me. "There's some seriously weird shit goin' on with your eyes!"

"It must be that pill kicking in," I replied. I slid my hands up his chest and cupped his face in one of my hands. Suddenly, I went really cold all over, like a sudden breeze had blown into the toilets. "Brr," I said, shivering slightly. "Do you feel that?" Nathan didn't reply. Instead he started making a weird, choked breathing noise. "Nathan?!" I said, panicked, dropping my hand.

Then I saw it. Where my hand had been were lots of little ice crystals stuck to Nathan's face, and his skin had turned a strange greyish-blue. Oh my God, what the actual hell?!

"What the fuck was that!?" he demanded, putting a hand to his face. "It felt like my blood was freezin'!"

"Jesus! I…I don't know what happened! That pill's done something really weird to my power!" I yelped. "It's like it's reversed it or something!" I watched as the ice crystals slowly melted away, but I was so scared to touch Nathan that the romantic mood kind of died. Instead, I leaned my head forward and rested against his chest. "I'm sorry."

"Hey," he said gently, tilting my chin up with his finger to make me look at him. "It's not your fault. I'm guessin' this is another one of those fucked up situations that requires very careful handlin'." He leaned forward and captured my lips with his, a kiss that slowly built in pressure, and became the kind of kiss that only lead in one direction. Still scared to touch him, I gripped his t-shirt in my fists. I could feel the material freezing slightly under my touch as Nathan made a trail of kisses along my neck, but hey, what can ya do?

* * *

Around about half an hour later, when Nathan and I had…finished…we stood in each other's arms, breathing heavily. We untangled ourselves from around each other, but all it took was a small smile from me for Nathan to grab hold of me and pull me in for yet another kiss.

It was obvious he wanted to go in for Round Two, when there was a sudden banging on the wall that separated our cubicle from the one next to it.

"What the…fuck off!" Nathan snapped as he pushed the fabric of my crop top off my shoulder and kissed the skin next to my bra strap.

"Nathan, it's me! Simon!"

"Barry, I'm not bein' funny but now's not a good time!"

"But this is important!" Simon sounded really alarmed.

"For fuck sake, _what_?"

"It's your brother! His car's on fire and he's still inside it!" The effect these words had on Nathan was instantaneous. He zipped his trousers up at the speed of light and the only expression on his face was that of sheer panic. I quickly zipped up my own shorts as he dashed out of the toilets.

"Nathan! Wait, be careful!" Simon called after him. "The pills reverse our powers! Make sure you don't get killed! Nathan!" By a way of answering, the toilets door slammed shut.

"What do you mean, 'don't get killed'?" I demanded, emerging from the cubicle myself, pushing my sleeve back over my shoulder.

"Georgia? What are you doing in here?" asked Simon.

"Wow, really? Simon, sweetie, work it out. Boyfriend and girlfriend plus alcohol and drugs plus toilet cubicle equals…?"

Simon blushed slightly. "Oh. Right."

"Anyway, what did you mean by 'don't get killed'?" I asked.

"Well, the pills reverse our powers. If Nathan is immortal, that means if he gets killed, it will reverse it so that he actually does get killed," Simon explained.

"Oh shit!" I yelled, and I ran out of the toilets, stumbling in my heeled boots and pushing my way through the throngs of clubbers. "Get the fuck out of my way!" I shouted, forcing my way through one particularly stoned group of people by the door. I could hear Simon hurrying after me.

When the two of us burst out the door, the first thing I saw was the flame-coated shape that was Jamie's car. The entire interior of the vehicle was engulfed in flames, the bright orange inferno illuminating the darkness. I looked around wildly, and saw Nathan running towards the car, shouting his brother's name.

"No, Nathan, don't!" I screamed, starting to run forward as well.

"Georgia, stop!" shouted Simon, grabbing my wrist to stop me. "It's too dangerous!"

"Get off me!" I screeched, wrenching my arm out of his grip. "NATHAN!" It was no use; either Nathan couldn't hear me or was totally blanking me, because he kept running towards the car. I could hear the metal crunching under the intense heat of the flames. Oh God, he was getting closer. _No! No no no no no!_

But just before he could reach the car, a figure dressed in black tackled Nathan to the ground just as the car completely exploded, bits of red-hot metal raining down. Holy fuck. It was him, the guy in the mask. He'd saved Nathan. If Nathan had been even a foot closer to the car, he would have been caught in the explosion as well, which would have killed him instantly. But he apparently wasn't very grateful for this.

"Get off me! My brother's in there!" he cried, struggling against the guy's arms. "My brother's in there!" He pulled himself free from the guy in the mask's grip and started moving towards the car again, even though it now resembled more of a fireball than a car.

"No, Nathan! Stop!" I shouted, finally reaching him and grabbing his arm. "It's too dangerous!" He tried to pull away, but I held on tighter. "Please just listen to me! I really don't want to say this, but there's no way anyone could survive that!"

"Let go of me!" he yelled, and then he did something he'd never done before. He slammed his hands into my chest and pushed me clean over. I tumbled back into the dirt, pebbles biting harshly into the skin of my legs and arms. I scraped my hands as I threw them out to break my fall.

"Hey! Nathan!" I shouted indignantly, wiping my hands on my shorts to dust off the chunks of gravel embedded in my palms. It was then that I noticed the small cuts criss-crossing on my skin, blood slightly trickling out. "Thanks a lot, arsehole!" But he completely ignored me again; he just stood there shouting his brother's name in anguished tones.

I felt a hand on my arm, and I looked up. Simon was looking down at me, looking anxious. "Are you okay?" he asked, helping me to my feet.

"Yeah, I'm great," I said sarcastically, trying to ignore the stinging in my hands.

"You're bleeding," he pointed out.

"I know," I said impatiently, wiping my bloody hands on my legs absent-mindedly. "Fuck this. I'm leaving."

"I'll come with you," said Simon. "It's getting late anyway." The two of us started walking away, my heels clicking against the hard ground, when I saw something moving in my peripheral vision. I twisted my head, and saw the guy in the mask limping down the gap between a load of shipping grates.

"Simon!" I hissed, throwing my arm out in front of him to stop him. "Look!"

"We should follow him!" Simon whispered. "We need to find out who he is!"

"Follow him how? What if he sees us?" I whispered back. "I'm not exactly dressed for sleuthing, Simon!" I gestured to my heeled boots.

"Try and take smaller and lighter steps," he suggested quietly, his eyes trained on the guy in the mask, who had paused.

"Lighter steps?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes. "Are you calling me fat?"

"N-no," Simon stuttered, looking at me. "I just meant…"

"Calm down, boy. I was kidding. Let's do this thing," I said, looking back at the guy in the mask. "Shit! He's gone!"

"We need to find him!" Simon said, and he practically took off down the little alleyway. I cursed loudly and hurried after him, trying to stop my shoes clicking so much.

Inside the bundle of shipping crates, it was like a labyrinth of corrugated iron. Simon and I must have made about two left turns and a right before we heard the sound of someone stepping in a puddle. I went to turn to the source of the noise, but Simon stopped me.

"Look!" he whispered, pointing at something smeared on to a crate. He stuck his finger out and tentatively dabbed at the stain. He sniffed it then held his finger out to me.

I gagged. "Is that blood?"

"I think so," he said, and we both suddenly started when we heard the sound of something slamming into metal. It was coming from yet another little alley-type thing to the right. The two of us hid behind one of the crates, poking our heads slightly round the side to spy on the guy in the mask.

He was leaning against one of the crates, breathing so heavily I could hear him way back where Simon and I were hiding. His breathing also sounded laboured, like he was in pain. As he leaned forward, bracing himself on his knees, I noticed that he'd taken off his mask.

I looked at Simon. _Should we like, tackle him or something? _I mouthed at him, and he shook his head in answer. I huffed quietly in irritation and turned back to watch what the guy was doing. He reached for his arm and, with a grunt, wrenched what looked like a piece of glass out of his bicep. Ew.

He dropped the piece of glass on the floor, then took a few staggering steps forward. Then he froze. From the way he stood- all tensed up- I was certain that he'd realised we were watching him. But then he carried on walking, making those same jerky, limping movements as before.

"Come on!" I whispered to Simon. I took a few steps forward, then turned back to Simon, waving at him to follow me. He hesitated, but then came after me.

It seemed like we were following the guy in the mask for hours. That's probably because we _were _following him for hours. I swear we followed him all over the entire fucking town of Wertham! It was starting to change from night to morning by the time I even began to think that the guy in the mask had an actual destination in mind. I was limping myself now, gripping the heels I'd taken off about two hours earlier in my hand. Simon and I had been trailing after the guy in the mask for so long, it felt like my feet were literally on fire.

Every time I'd suggested just calling it a night and forgetting all about the guy in the mask, Simon had insisted we kept going, that something would have to come out of our incessant following. But instead, not only was I on the comedown from being on that pill, I was extremely tired, I was hungry, and I was in a lot of pain. Mix those all together and you had an exceptionally pissed off and irritable Georgia.

The sun was almost up now, and Simon and I watched from a distance as the guy in the mask opened the door to one of the flats on the estate and went inside.

"Is that it?" I muttered, rubbing my heavy eyes, past caring that I was smearing my eye make-up. "I was really expecting him to lead us somewhere more exciting, like a Batcave or a helicarrier."

We hesitantly approached the door, regardless. I thought I could vaguely make out the silhouette of the guy in the mask through the glass panes set into the door, but then again, it could have just been a shadow. Simon reached out to open the door, his hand wavering over the door handle.

"What are you waiting for?" I hissed. "Open it!"

"I don't think I should," he replied, withdrawing his hand.

"What?" I demanded, thunderstruck. "You aren't telling me that we followed that guy _all fucking night,_ and now we're not even gonna find out who he is?!" Simon nodded. "No way. No _way_. Simon, we're finding out who this guy is whether you want to or not!" I reached out myself and was just about to open the door when Simon suddenly grabbed my hand and held it, hard. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I don't think we should do this now!" he insisted. "I think we-"

I suddenly snapped. I was tired, annoyed and really wasn't in the mood for people telling me what to do.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, SIMON!" I shouted. "And d'you know what? Fuck you! Why are you all being like this? First Nathan completely ignores me and shoves me over, now you're acting like I'm in the wrong!" Oh God, what was I saying? Why was I being like this? "I don't mind being ogled, ridiculed, or even made to feel minuscule. I mean, when you consider the source of all the shit that's gone on in my life, it's kinda pitiful. I thought you were my best friend, Simon! We're supposed to stick together, to do things _together_! You're the one person who I trust with _everything_! The _one person _I thought knew everything about me! You should know that I'm the kind of person who won't let this go! But I guess, the only thing you really know about me is…well. I guess that's all you'll ever know." Boy, that escalated quickly.

Simon looked either completely terrified or like he was about to burst into tears. I closed my mouth, and I realised I'd become so worked up that I was practically hyperventilating. I considered apologising, but then again, I wasn't exactly one for backing down. So instead, I turned on my heel and tried to stalk away in a dignified way; an illusion that was slightly shattered by the fact I was still limping on my sore feet. For fuck sake.

* * *

_Kill me. Please, just someone walk through my front door and shoot me in the face_, were my thoughts half an hour later as I lie in the bath, my head pounding and my heart heavy. God, I felt like a bitch. A big, massive, oversized, bitchy bitch.

Simon didn't deserve that treatment. Why did I always do this?! Someone pissed me off, but it was always someone else that got the backlash of my anger. I guessed that the main part of my incensed outburst had been fuelled by the comedown of my high, and the fact I'd been up all night. Not that that excused anything, mind.

_Maybe I can drown myself. The bath water is deep enough_, I thought, almost seriously considering it. Fuck, I hated feeling like this. I swear I had a split-personality disorder. I could go from super-happy to majorly pissy in twenty-three seconds.

Still, I somehow managed to find the motivation to drag myself out of the bath and wrap my soaking frame in a towel. I padded my way into the bedroom on my sore feet to look at the time. It was only now coming up for seven forty-five, so I still had about half an hour before I needed to leave.

I dropped the towel and quickly pulled on a pair of purple knickers and a matching bra. Because I still felt so rough from yesterday, I chose function over fashion for a change, choosing my clothes because they were comfortable as opposed to my usual tight-fitting attire. I put on a pair of white high-waisted boyfriend shorts and a blue denim short-sleeved shirt, and wore a pair of pale blue espadrilles on my feet.

I grabbed my bag and phone from my bed, unlocking my phone as I did so. Still no word from Nathan. I knew we hadn't departed on the best of terms (my hands still slightly ached from the now-scabbed over cuts), but as his girlfriend I was morally obligated to worry when I hadn't heard from him in almost ten hours.

To be honest, I was more than worried. I was totally panicked. What if Nathan had been stupid enough to try and get his brother out of the car? Oh God, what if Nathan was dead?! Okay, right, time to do that breathing and counting to ten thing my therapist was so fond of.

_One, two…he's perfectly fine…five, six, seven…he's not dead…ten._ Well, I guess that had helped. Sort of. Oh, who was I kidding? I was rapidly moving into that point where panic became full-on freaking out. I needed to get to the community centre, and soon, to see that he was still breathing and put my mind at rest.

* * *

To say I hurried to the community centre would be a serious understatement. I practically sprinted my way there. I think I may have accidentally knocked over a small group of middle schoolers on their way to the bus stop, but whatever. They didn't have to worry about their boyfriends possibly being dead.

I arrived at the community centre before anyone else, as far as I could tell. I didn't waste time dwelling on this, though. Instead, I hurried my way into the locker room, preying to God that Nathan was in there.

Sure enough, as I opened the door, there he was, already dressed for the day and leaning his head on his closed locker door. I slowed down, treading lightly so I didn't startle him. I was half-tempted to let rip and start screaming at him about how worried I'd been, but then I saw his eyes. Red, bloodshot, ringed with pale purple. There were the ghosts of tear tracks still etched on his pale cheeks, and his eyelashes were still slightly spiked with tears. It was obvious he'd spent the last couple of hours crying.

* * *

"_We gonna party like it__'__s 3012 tonight,  
__I wanna show ya all the finer things in life.  
__So just forget about the world we on tonight.__"  
_**-Justin Bieber ft. Nicki Minaj, ****"****Beauty and a Beat****"**

* * *

**A/N- Not really got much to say to y'all other than the usual generic plea for reviews. I haven't really gotten that many the last couple of chapters. Is there a reason for that? Let me know! Xx Gee xX**

**References: "You fucking foul-mouthed dumbfuck" is from the game **_**Lollipop Chainsaw**_**.  
**"**I don't mind being ogled, ridiculed, made to feel minuscule. When you consider the source it's kinda pitiful. The only thing you really know about me is, that's all you'll ever know" are lyrics from the Slipknot song **_**My Plague**_**.  
**"**Boy, that escalated quickly" is from **_**Anchorman**_**.**


	25. LA Ink?

**A/N- So we're wrapping up Episode 2 and starting Episode 3 (which is, without a doubt, my favourite episode of the series!). The usual totally awesome thanks to Beebopalula, Guest 1, Guest 2 and Gwenlynn for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five- LA Ink?**

Conflicting emotions. _Man, _I hated those things. They got in the way of everything! My vibe was now totally messed up. Was I supposed to be all supportive and sympathetic, or launch straight into my tirade of 'where were you? I was worried sick! How dare you treat me like that!'? As I looked at Nathan's tear-stained face, I knew it had to be the first one. How awful of me would it be if I started screaming at him just hours after his brother had died?

I was certain that was why he was crying; nothing else would make Nathan show his true feelings like this. I approached him hesitantly, unsure as how to make myself heard to him. Hell, I had half a mind to turn right around and just leave. I was so awkward in situations that involved people crying.

No, I had to do this for him. Nathan needed me now. I could shout and scream at him as much as I wanted to later on, but now…now really wasn't the time. Even I wasn't that heartless.

"Nathan?" I said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder to show him I wasn't angry. Not anymore. "Babe?" Nathan didn't say anything, but I watched as his face changed from looking broken to looking utterly emotionally wrecked. He turned and pulled me into a hug, his arms tight around me, his face buried in my long hair.

"He's dead," he muttered, sounding on the verge of tears. "Jamie. He's dead."

"I know, hun. I know. I'm so sorry," I said soothingly, stroking my hand through his hair in what I hoped was a comforting rhythm. The two of us remained locked in our embrace for another few minutes, but then I made him look at me. "I was so worried about you. Why didn't you call?" I asked gently.

"I was busy hangin' out with my dead brother," he replied quietly.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I see dead people," he explained, then he laughed without a trace of humour. "So there's a thing."

"Oh Nathan…" How the _fuck _was I supposed to reply to that? 'I'm sorry your brother's dead, but it's pretty cool that you're a medium'?! No! "How…how did you find out?"

"When the…car exploded, and I saw him standin' there, it just looked like he'd jumped out the door, y'know? I thought he was fine. Lily- that girl from the pub- she died as well. She had a power, and it got all fucked up like ours did. Instead of her freezin' shit, she caught fire instead."

"Oh my God. So she had basically the exact opposite of my power?" I said, and Nathan nodded. Jeez, small world.

"Anyways, Jamie somehow managed to convince me to go visit our dad," he continued. "To make up and all that shit. And guess what? Turns out the stupid bastard was dead the whole fuckin' time. I was with him for like ten hours before he told me. I must've looked like a right mental, walkin' along talkin' to myself!"

"So did you and your Dad make up?"

"Yeah. Well, kinda. It was mostly because Jamie said he'd haunt me for the rest of my life if I didn't, and I figured because I'm with you most of the time, and you piss yourself if you watch a ghost movie, I didn't think that would be such a good idea," he mocked, starting to sound more like himself.

"Hey! I do not piss myself!" I said indignantly. "There's a difference between pissing yourself and screaming a couple of times!" There! I managed to get Nathan to smile. I looped my arms around his neck and leaned in, lightly brushing his lips with mine. "Are you gonna be okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I just feel kinda guilty, y'know? I only knew him a couple of days."

"I know, babe. And I know it'll hurt like hell for a few days. I mean, when I thought you were dead that time, I…I don't even want to remember how awful I felt. But it got better. You'll feel better. I'll _make _you feel better!" I caught the highly suggestive look he gave me. "Well, maybe not _that _way."

"Pleeaasee?" he practically pleaded, sounding like a child begging their mother for sweets.

"Begging will get you nowhere," I said with a laugh, but he was the one who leaned in this time, kissing me almost fiercely. There were a sudden set of footsteps behind us, and the two of us broke apart, keeping our arms tight around each other.

It was Simon. Fuck.

After my outburst earlier that morning, he'd called me twice, but I'd ignored the phone, thinking it would have been better to let my temper simmer down before I spoke to him. Well, my temper was well and truly simmered now, and I now just felt ridiculously guilty at the way I'd treated him.

_I'm so, so, so sorry! _I mouthed to him, deciding I'd properly apologise later, in private. He nodded once before saying, "Er…the guy in the mask."

"What about him?" said Nathan.

"Georgia and I followed him last night. We know where he lives!"

"Yeah? What d'you want us to do about it?" asked Nathan uninterestedly, removing his arms from my waist and opening his locker, shooting me an eye-roll as he did so.

"I think we should go round there and talk to him!" Simon said, sounding vaguely irritated. Oh, so _that _was what his idea had been, and it was a pretty good one at that. Great, now I felt even _worse_ for not hearing him out.

"Yeah, that's a great idea," I said, a tad over-enthusiastically. "Yeah. Er…I'll go and, er…find the others! Yeah. I'll be back in a second!" God, could I have sounded any more strange?

I practically sprinted out of the locker rooms, and as the door closed I heard Nathan say to Simon, "Is talkin' all freaky like that a side effect of PMS?"

* * *

Once our day's shift had ended (which seemed to go a lot quicker than usual), Simon and I led the others to the flat we'd witness the guy in the mask go into. As soon as we reached the door, Alisha pressed on the doorbell. There was no answer, so she pressed it again, this time slightly more forcefully.

"So what do we do now?" she said with a shrug.

"It's fine, I got this," I said, moving to the door. I opened my bag and pulled out my wooden hairbrush. I shoved it forward with as much force as I possibly could, ramming it into one of the glass panes of the door, shattering the glass. I then used the hairbrush to knock out the remaining few bits of jagged glass still attached to the pane.

"Jesus!" cursed Nathan, flinching at the sound.

"Ah, subtle!" said Curtis sarcastically. "I'm sure no one heard that!"

"Bitch please. I don't see any of you lot coming up with any way to get us inside!" I retorted as I stuck my hand through the glassless pane and unlocked the door. "Voila. We're in. You can thank me later." The door swung open, and the six of us traipsed inside, the glass from the door crackling under our shoes as we did so.

The flat we were now invading was set out exactly the same as my own, except that the way it was decorated and furnished was a hell of a lot classier (and less garish) than my own décor. I started to wonder if Simon and I had gotten the right place, because as we started going through the flat owner's possessions, it became highly evident that whoever lived here was very in touch with their feminine side.

As we rifled through the owner's bedroom, Kelly held up a leopard-print dress from a drawer she was going through and proclaimed, "This is a girl's bedroom."

"What, so now we're saying he's a cross-dresser," said Alisha, frowning.

"This really isn't right," I muttered, just as Simon announced, "Something's wrong." Nice to know our thoughts were still on the same wavelength.

"I'm gonna take a shit in his bed!" declared Nathan, squatting on the bed covers.

"You what?" said Alisha, sounding disgusted.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Please tell me you aren't being serious, Nathan."

"I don't think you should do that," tacked on Simon quietly.

"We need to send a message!" he replied. "Let him know he can't fuck with us!"

"And how does taking a shit in his bed do that, exactly?" demanded Curtis.

"Well they did it in _The Godfather_!" Nathan shot back.

"This isn't some kind of fucked-up 'say hello to my little friend' situation, Nathan!" I snapped.

"That's from _Scarface_," said Simon. "Besides, in _The Godfather_ they put a horse's head in the bed."

"Well have you got a horse's head?" retorted Nathan.

"Oh yeah, because we just casually carry around the severed remains of horses," I drawled sarcastically. "Be serious, Nathan." Ha, yeah right. And sure enough, as usual my request fell on deaf ears as Nathan continued to pull his trousers down. The rest of us quickly vacated the bedroom, all of us making varying noises of revulsion.

As Kelly and Alisha each took a seat at the table and Curtis stood by the sink, I paced the living room, wringing my hands. "Simon's right. Something is very, very wrong here."

"This isn't his flat!" Simon said as if to back me up.

"So why did 'e lead os 'ere?" asked Kelly.

"Maybe he figured out Simon and I were following him," I said anxiously, now slightly concerned that we'd broken into some random woman's house. This was all it took for Curtis to let out a highly irritated scoff and announce, "I'm done." He pushed his way past Simon and strode down the hall, but before he could reach the front door, it opened slowly.

A girl stood in the doorway, a girl around about twenty-one-ish. She had mocha-coloured skin and short, dark hair and was very pretty in a smouldery kind of way. Oh, _fuckballs. _So this was the owner of the flat.

"Er, hi," I squeaked nervously.

"Who are you?" she demanded irately. "Why are you in my flat?"

I don't think anyone expected what Curtis said next. "It's you!"

It was who?! How did Curtis know this girl? Because it was extremely clear that she had no clue who the fuck he was. However, I had no time to dwell on this as I heard Nathan yell from the bedroom, "Can someone grab me some toilet paper!" Jesus, this just got so very, extremely awkward.

"Nathan! Now's really not the time!" I called to him, tapping my foot in both impatience and nervousness.

"What d'you mean, 'now's really not the time'?" he shouted incredulously. I huffed in irritation (as usual) and hurried into the bedroom, where Nathan was doing up his trousers and muttering about how he really needed some toilet paper.

"I'll get you some toilet paper later!" I hissed. "But we've got a problem. The owner of the flat is here and asking all sorts of awkward questions about why we're in her flat. We need to bounce. _Now_."

"Seriously? She's here _already_?" he said. "Damn it. D'you reckon she'd let me use the toilet? I really need a piss now."

"No. She won't. Let's _go_." I didn't bother waiting for him to reply as I grabbed his hand and hauled him out of the room. Simon, Curtis, Alisha and Kelly were still in the hall, trying to explain (albeit badly) to the girl why we were in her flat.

"Well it was lovely to meet you, but we all really need to go now," I said smartly, still dragging Nathan by the hand. "Come on guys!" The others didn't need any more convincing as we hotfooted it straight out the door, pushing past the highly confused girl as we did so.

Once we were all outside, Alisha and Curtis both headed off in the same direction with a, "Catch ya later." from Alisha and a, "See ya." from Curtis. Kelly yawned and said she was going as well, leaving me, Nathan and Simon. Oh look, more awkwardness. How I had missed it. I knew I had to apologize to Simon, and I had to do it now. If not, I'd just find a way to keep putting it off.

"Nathan," I said lightly. "Go ahead to mine and open up, will you? There's some stuff I need to talk to Simon about."

"Like what? I'm pretty sure whatever it is, you can mention it in front of me, love," he said, slightly sulkily.

"It's private nerd stuff, sweetie. You wouldn't be interested." Nathan's sullen expression didn't change, so I walked over to him and put my arms around his neck. "Please just trust me on this." Still nothing. "Look, if you go home now, I won't be too long and then…" I leaned up and whispered in his ear, then I pulled back and grinned at him.

"That seems fair," he agreed with a smirk. I threw my keys at him and he caught them with one hand, before heading off in the direction of my flat, whistling.

I watched him walking off for a few seconds, then I turned to Simon. "Right. You."

Ah, there it was. The trademark Scared Simon look. "What is it?"

"I swear all I do is apologise to you after I have one of my mental breakdowns, but here we go again. I'm so sorry for how I yelled at you last night…well, technically it was this morning but whatever. I'm sorry, yeah?"

"It's okay," he replied, in his usual 'I have no idea how to really answer' manner. "I guess I'm used to it now."

"Oi! Cheeky bastard!" I lightly kicked him in the leg. "But seriously. I didn't mean _anything _I said. You know that right?"

"Of course I do. I know what you're like when you're angry. You say things you don't mean."

"Er, thank you? I think?" I said with a slight frown. "Anyway, that's all I really wanted to tell you. Oh, and I don't really want the others to know about my spaz attack, so if you just kinda…keep it on the down-low, please?"

"Sure," said Simon.

"Thanks, hun." I put my arms around him and pulled him in for a quick hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

And see him tomorrow I did. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day. And on that fifth day, it was probably in what was possibly the most uncomfortable way _ever_. The probation worker had decided to shove all six of us into his car and drive us up to…well, I didn't have a fucking clue where we were going.

All seven of us (probation worker included) had been rammed- literally- into the probation worker's five-person car. The probation worker drove, and Curtis sat in the front seat. Alisha, Kelly, Nathan and Simon all managed to squeeze into the backseat. I, however, had nowhere to sit myself, so I ended up half-sitting on Nathan's lap, and half-sitting on Simon's. I was sure we were breaking some kind of serious health and safety code.

The road underneath the car was so uneven it caused the vehicle to literally bounce along the road, making me hit my head on the ceiling of the car more than once. Where the hell we were going, I didn't know. But wherever it was, it was becoming more and more desolate as we drove straight out of the town limits.

"Does this feel like one of those moments in a movie where someone totally flips out and drags the unsuspecting victims to some derelict factory site to brutally murder them with pickaxes to anyone else, or is that just me?" I whispered to Nathan, who snorted and nodded once.

My theory seemed to become slightly more apparent as the probation worker turned sharply off the road and began driving towards…fuck, was that an overflowing skip or a dump explosion? Oh sweet Jesus, no. _Please let us be doing something, __anything__ other than that! _I thought desperately. I'd rather clean out some public toilets than go anywhere near that plague-infested rubbish tip. But no such luck as the car slowed to a stop and the probation worker pulled the handbrake up, a clear indication for us to get out.

Desperate for air (it was seriously stuffy in that car), I didn't waste anytime crawling over Simon and Nathan to get to the door. I pushed it open and hurled myself out of it, hitting the ground on all fours as the others got out the car with about fifty-seven times more grace than me.

Standing up and dusting myself down, I wrinkled my nose at the sight of the mouldy yellow skip. "So what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" I asked.

"Put all this shit in that skip," the probation worker said blandly, gesturing vaguely with his hand.

"Would it kill ya to dress it up a bit?" said Curtis fractiously.

"Put all this shit in that skip. Please," the probation worker deadpanned.

"Oh, for fuck sake," I muttered.

"Sometimes I wonder if you take this job entirely seriously," said Nathan snarkily.

"I am one hundred percent committed to your on-going rehabilitation," the probation worker said flatly. "It occupies my every waking minute."

"Then you must have one seriously boring life," I retorted, earning me a glare from the probation worker, who then turned around and made his way back to his car.

"Er, where're ya goin'?!" demanded Kelly.

"For a coffee and a Danish!" the probation worker replied. He shot us a final piss-taking smirk before getting in the car and driving off.

"Smug bastard," grumbled Nathan.

"Well this is a big load of _wank_," announced Alisha, looking around at the rubbish pile with a look of pure disdain.

"My sentiments exactly," I said, kicking a moth-eaten pillow in the general direction of the skip.

As the others all dispersed out around the rubbish, Alisha suddenly stopped me. "Georgia, wait!"

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

"Have you seen that guy in the mask any more?" she asked, a question that totally floored me. Hadn't been expecting that, that was for sure.

"Er, nope. Sorry. I haven't seen him since the night Simon and I spent about ten hours trailing after him in the dark."

"Why d'you reckon he lead you to that random girl's flat?" she enquired.

"Honestly? I haven't got a fucking clue," I replied. "I reckon he knew we were following him. I mean, someone who takes the time to dress up like a cross between Batman, Darth Vader and a ninja, and runs around saving our arses isn't exactly going to be clueless enough to not notice two duck-footed comic nerds following him. Or, you know, it could be some other totally irrelevant reason. Like we were supposed to trip on a secret tripwire that would open a trapdoor and reveal his hidden Batcave."

"Oh for God's sake, you're supposed to know about this kind of shit!" Alisha snapped, causing me to blink a couple of times in surprise.

"Jesus, woman, no need to rip my head off!"

"Forget it. I'll ask Simon," she said curtly, and she wandered off in the direction of said symmetrical-haired, shark-eyed boy. I was about to go after her and ask what the fuck her problem was, when I heard Nathan give a triumphant yell behind me.

"Aha, nice!"

I turned, frowning. What the hell could Nathan have found in this pile of shit that could possibly be classed as 'nice'? According to Nathan, 'nice' was a can of warm, probably out-of-date beer he'd found in an abandoned, otherwise empty fridge. He cracked the can open and took a long sip of it before offering it to me.

"Ew, are you serious?" I said with a disgusted sneer, waving his offer away with my hand. "Fuck knows how long that's been sitting in that fridge for. It's probably infested with herpes or something."

"Okay, fine, but it's your loss," he taunted in a sing-song voice before shotgunning the entire can.

"Jesus Christ, you can put it away," I commented with raised eyebrows. "Are you part camel?" The next thing I registered was Nathan's now-crumpled up can hitting me squarely between the eyes. "Prick." I turned to Kelly. "So what are you doing when this gigantic pile of shit we call a normal day is over?"

"I'm goin' to get me tattoo touched up," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Sounds painful," said Nathan, joining in the conversation.

"Tattoo, huh? You know, I've been considering getting a tattoo for a while. Well, actually there are two that I really, really want to get," I mused aloud, thinking.

"You? _You're _thinkin' about gettin' a tattoo?" said Nathan disbelievingly.

"Er, yeah," I replied a little frostily. "Why's that so hard to believe?"

"Well you're…you," he said, kind of lamely. "You hate pain. You cried for half an hour yesterday 'cause you got a splinter."

"Haha, really?!" snorted Kelly.

"Shut up!" I said, my cheeks flaming. "It was for like _five _minutes, Nathan!"

"You cried through the whole of _EastEnders_," he retorted. "Which I'm pretty sure is half an hour long."

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"My point is that you'll never be able to get a tattoo-"

"Two tattoos," I corrected.

"Whatever. Either way, I bet you won't last thirty seconds without cryin'," Nathan said smugly.

"Please. I'll be able to last thirty _minutes _without crying," I shot back, and for good measure I picked up a sodden old newspaper and threw it at him, and it landed on top of his head with a wet _thwack_ sound. "Bulls-eye, bitch."

"Oh, you are so gettin' it after that one!" he said with a laugh, pulling the newspaper of his head and flinging it at me, and it hit me square in the face. Urgh, it smelt _foul_, like wet dogs and death. I made to stick the newspaper down the front of Nathan's jumpsuit, but he suddenly picked me up and started spinning me around in a circle, moving closer towards the mountain of rubbish.

"No! No, no, no! Keep me the fuck _away _from that skip!" I shrieked, laughing. "Nathan, you dickhead! Put. Me. Down!" There was only one way I could think of to distract him, so I leaned forward and quickly pressed my lips to his. It had the desired effect. Nathan stopped moving towards the rubbish and lowered my feet back to the ground, his arms holding me tightly to him as our lips moved in unison.

"Alright, fine, I believe you," he said when we broke apart. "But I'm comin' with you. You'll be needin' to hold my hand when the pain gets to you and you start cryin' like a baby."

"_I'm not going to cry!_" I shouted in exasperation. All Nathan did was wink infuriatingly, then wandered over in the direction of a pile of disembodied mannequin parts, but not before slapping me on the arse as he did so.

* * *

As soon as our shift was over, Kelly, Nathan and I made our way to the only tattoo parlour on the estate, accompanied, for reasons I wasn't quite sure of, by Simon. The parlour ran the length of one of the underpasses, the words 'VINCE'S TATTOOS' etched along the wall. We entered the parlour through a door in one of the Os.

I almost turned right around and walked back out the door when I heard the sound of the tattoo gun humming away, which didn't actually make any sense since I couldn't see anyone else in the building.

But it was too late, as a man with a shaved head, who was covered in tattoos, had come through a back door, and Kelly greeted him with, "Hiya, Vince." before explaining she wanted her bow tattoo touched up, then said that I wanted a couple of tattoos myself. Oh yeah, way too late to back out now.

I let Kelly go first anyway, just to see how she reacted to the needle. Nathan, Simon and I looked around the walls, which were decorated with pictures of tattoos I assumed Vince had done. Nathan and Simon seemed to be drawn to one particularly disturbing image- a picture of a penis wrapped in barbed wire. Jesus Christ, what was I getting myself into!? I was unbelievably glad that the two tattoos I was getting were ones I'd found online, not one of the ones on the wall.

Kelly hopped into the chair and pulled her shirt up slightly, revealing the bow tattoo at the base of her spine. "It's like it's fadin' or somefin'," she told Vince, who dabbed a swab of damp tissue over the tattoo before grinning toothily at her.

"Yeah, it just needs a bit of touching up, that," he confirmed. "I'll do that for you now if you want."

"Yeah, nice one," she said with a smile, relaxing down in the seat.

"Listen, I haven't seen you out in town lately," said Vince in a voice that I supposed was meant to be flirty, sorting out the tattoo needle.

"Yeah, I've got a curfew," Kelly explained.

"So whose cock is this?" Nathan suddenly demanded, gesturing at the picture on the wall.

A slight pause. Vince looked vaguely annoyed by Nathan's innocent enough (for him) question. However, he took a deep breath and answered, "That's mine." I promptly spat out the mouthful of Coke I'd just taken from the bottle I'd had in my bag. Ew. Hadn't been expecting that for an answer, that was for sure.

"Really?" Nathan snorted. "I'm not bein' funny, but why would you do somethin' like that?"

"It expresses how I felt about my girlfriend when she left me," Vince answered curtly.

"You couldn't just get drunk and sleep with a prostitute?" Nathan shot back with a scoff.

"It's because each one of these-" Vince gestured at the various tattoos decorating his skin. "-means something to me, my friend. When I ink my skin, I feel it."

"Hey man, whatever gets you off," Nathan replied with false innocuousness.

"Leave it, Nathan," I warned, and he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

It didn't take long for Vince to finish going over Kelly's tattoo, and then it was my turn. I'm not going to lie, I was shaking as I climbed into the chair, so much so that I almost knocked over the chair trying to get into it.

"First time?" Vince asked me in that low, growling voice of his, and I nodded a couple of times. "So what'll it be?"

"There are two that I want," I replied, and I brought up the first picture on my phone. "This one I'd like on the base of my spine, like Kelly's," I explained. It was simple, just three red playing card diamonds, one slightly lower than the other two. Okay, yes, so it was the same tattoo Harley Quinn had in her costume for _Injustice: Gods Among Us_, but hey, the others didn't know that, did they?

"Tramp stamp!" Nathan said in a mock cough, to which I replied by flipping him off.

"Yeah, that's easy enough," Vince said. "And the other?"

"I want this on my left shoulder blade," I said, pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of my pocket. As Vince stared at it with a confused expression on his face, I felt the need to elaborate, "It's a rune for fearlessness." I was met by four separate looks of 'what the fuck'. Even Simon didn't seem to have a clue what I was harping on about. "Urgh, you people are so uncultured." Still blank looks. "Forget it. Anyway, can you do the one on my spine first?"

"Sure I can," replied Vince. "You'll need to turn around though."

"Righto," I said, flipping onto my front and pulling up my camisole to expose the skin at the small of my back. I could hear Vince sorting out the tattoo gun behind me, and I braced myself for impact when I heard the buzzing start up. I let out a small squeak, of surprise and pain, when I first felt the needle pierce my skin, and I quickly looked at the others to distract myself.

"Hey Simon! You should get a tattoo as well!" I suggested, wincing slightly as I felt the needle inking the first diamond

"I have a phobia of needles," Simon said tremulously.

I sighed. "Of course you do." Poor boy. He really needed to learn to take a walk on the wild side every now and again. I mean, hello, I managed to get over _my _aversion to pain!

Which I was seriously starting to re-evaluate as the needle got started on the second diamond. Fucking hell, that was painful. It felt like my back was on fire. _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry! _I chanted over and over in my mind. Oh shit, too late. One tear escaped from my eye, and that was all it took for Nathan to point his finger at me and triumphantly exclaim, "Ha! Knew it!"

"Oh shut up, you prick!" I muttered, my voice wobbling slightly. "Isn't this the whole reason you're here?! To hold my hand when I start crying?!"

"I'm not sure I'd really call that 'cryin''," he teased.

"Not the time, Nathan!" I reached my hand out to him, and he had the decency to actually take hold of it. _Sweet Jesus, _I was in so much pain! I was gripping Nathan's hand so hard his fingers were turning white. But after a few minutes, my back started going numb, so I released Nathan (who immediately started massaging his fingers). "Jesus! If this is how badly you react to gettin' a tattoo, what the fuck will you be like if you have a baby?!"

"I'll jump that hurdle when I reach it," I said. "And I hope to God that's not for a few more years." Ten minutes later, my first tattoo was finished and Vince slapped a bandage over the top of the ink.

"You sure you want this other one?" Vince asked me. I nodded. I figured I may as well get all the pain out of the way. But the funny thing was, with this second tattoo I didn't even notice the pain, except for when the needle first went in.

"Hey Georgia!" Nathan suddenly called. "Now, would you fancy me even more with this-" He pointed at a picture of a rose tattoo on the wall. "-or does it look a bit gay to you?"

Oh, wrong thing to say. That rose was the exact the tattoo Vince had very proudly displayed on his neck. When Nathan realised his (hilarious) error, his face formed into an expression of awkward apology that I couldn't tell was legit or not.

"Oh. I mean it would look gay on me, just 'cause I've got a beautiful face. But you get away with it, with your face! I'm not sayin' you're ugly…er…you've looked in the mirror! No offence man."

I felt Vince freeze slightly. I had the internal feeling that he was seriously having to fight the urge to punch Nathan in the face. Hey, we'd all been there. But instead, he just took a deep, steadying breath, looked over his shoulder at something before he turned back and growled out, "None taken."

Suddenly, Nathan flinched, raising a hand to his left shoulder. He made a hissing noise, the kind of noise someone makes when they feel pain for a split second.

"Nathan? Are you alright?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, fine," he said, sounding distracted. I brushed this off and waited another fifteen minutes or so, then Vince put another bandage over my second tattoo, announcing that it was finished. Kelly and I paid him, and I called to Simon and Nathan that it was time to rock and roll.

As the four of us headed away from the tattoo parlour, Nathan asked, "So how about you and me go get a drink?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" I said with a shrug. "Where'd you have in mind?"

"Who's askin' you?" Nathan demanded rudely.

"Erm, I'm pretty sure _you_ are," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm talkin' to him," Nathan said, pointing at a now very confused-looking Simon. "Look, this is more of a boys night! We're talkin' some quality man time- beer, football." He looked at Simon. "Maybe some wrestlin'?"

"Why're ya bein' such a dick?" demanded Kelly, clearly on my side.

Nathan looked ridiculously affronted. "Come on man, let's go watch some wrestlin'," he said to Simon, putting his arm around him and pulling him along. "We don't need them!"

"Alright then, fuck you!" I shouted angrily after him.

"Wot da fock?" said Kelly, watching the boys' retreating figures. "Wot was all that about?"

"Like fuck if I know," I muttered, then I had a thought. "Maybe it's a man period."

* * *

"_You're still a part of everything I do,  
You're on my heart just like a tattoo,  
Just like a tattoo,  
I'll always have you."  
_**-Jordin Sparks, "Tattoo"**

* * *

**A/N- Two words, my friends: fucking exams. My GCSEs are now in full swing, and that's the reason I haven't updated for a week. I'm so, so sorry!  
If you want to see what Georgia's tattoos actually look like, there are links on my profile. :)****  
****So yeah, I love you guys, and I'd love for you to review! You know how much it means to me! Mwah! :* Xx Gee xX**


	26. Love Bites, But So Do I

**A/N- Hey, hey, hey guys! You're amazing, every single bloody of you! Over 7,000 views AND 70 reviews?! You're spoiling me. Oh, the chapter title is a lyric from the Halestorm song **_**Love Bites (So Do I), **_**which seems pretty self-explanatory now I'm thinking about it. Anyway, I'd like to thank Beebopalula, Gwenlynn, Guest (yes, I most certainly am a TMI fan, and a huge one at that!), BirdOfParadise and It'sJustMe for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six- Love Bites, But So Do I**

I walked home on my own. Kelly had said she had some stuff to do, and obviously Nathan and Simon had buggered off to some pub together or something. I supposed I shouldn't have been complaining about that last part. It would be nice to have a boyfriend and a best friend who got on well enough. I'd be in the minority of girls if that was the case. Hey, maybe this was the start of a beautiful bromance.

Still, I didn't really like walking around the estate on my own. You never knew if some kind of psychopathic, doped-up mugger was around the next corner. Oh for God's sake, why did I do this to myself? Now I was convinced I was going to get mugged.

I kept looking around corners fearfully, one of my headphones trailing around my shoulders, quietly playing _Eyeless _by Slipknot. I must have looked ridiculously paranoid, constantly looking over my shoulder and treading smartly and quickly. But I noticed that the streets seemed rather deserted, for an evening in Wertham. There was literally nobody out, aside from the odd jogger, and as I moved closer into the centre of the estate, it became literally deserted. That was when I heard it.

It was faint at first, but it was definitely there. The sound of something whipping through the air. I turned off my music and slipped my phone and headphones into my pocket, straining to hear. I slowed my footsteps, hoping the sound was what- or rather, _who_- I thought it was.

There it was again, coming from somewhere above me. I looked up in time to see a flash of black disappear over the side of the wall on one of the high levels of the estate. I darted up a set of stairs next to me, determined to get another look at the guy in the mask. I ran up three sets of steps until I eventually reached the level he'd disappeared to.

There he was. He was standing at the edge of the level, looking like he was about the spring over the edge of the wall. He must have heard me thudding up the stairs in my Doc Martens boots, because he turned around when I reached the top of the stairs, breathing heavily because I was out of breath. We stared at each other for about thirty seconds, and then I started to get a bit unnerved.

"Who are you?" I shouted, not that I really expected the guy to reply. And sure enough, he didn't. I quickly dug my phone out of my pocket just as the guy turned away from me and hauled himself up on to the ledge. I snapped a couple of pictures of him just as he front-flipped over the side of the wall and disappeared.

Jesus. Was he following me like he was Alisha? I couldn't be sure. Maybe it was just a coincidence, him being in the same place as me at the same time. A fucking big coincidence, if you asked me. No, that really was just paranoia. What possible reason could the guy in the mask have for following me?

* * *

I hurried home extremely quickly after that, locking the front door the second I was inside. I quickly typed out a text to Alisha- _I saw the guy in the mask again. I think he might be following me too. Call me when you read this, yeah? Xx_- and hit Send.

I went and made myself a coffee as I waited for Alisha to ring. She was constantly glued to her phone, so I assumed it wouldn't take long before she saw my text.

But half an hour went past, and then an hour, and there was still no word. Maybe she'd gone home and fallen asleep. That seemed pretty logical. I knew that, at the minute, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball in bed in my pyjamas, with a book (I was currently reading _The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels _by Cassandra Clare) and a glass of red wine.

In fact, fuck it. I would do that. I wasn't going to bother waiting up for Nathan. If he wanted to come round after what he said to me, then he could jog right on. Not that I expected him to, mind. He was far too busy with his new bestest friend, Simon. God, I sounded bitter. I was happy that Nathan was finally accepting Simon, I was, but there had been no need for him to talk to me the way he did.

Nope, fuck him. This was going to be a me-evening, starting with a nice, long bubble bath.

I was in the bath for an hour, but when I got out there was no missed call from Alisha, no text, no nothing. Okay, so that really was quite weird. I sent her another text- _Hello? Earth to Alisha?! You're not dead, are you?! Xx_- then pulled on a pair of black pyjama shorts and an old Batman t-shirt, before climbing into bed with my book.

Like always when I read, I lost track of time, and my phone's text ringtone (the _Lollipop Chainsaw _phone chime) sharply jolted me out of the world of the Shadowhunters. Thinking it was Alisha, I grabbed the phone and unlocked it, but I was surprised to see it was a text from Simon.

_Something's really wrong with Nathan. X_, it read. Well, it wasn't like I didn't know that. But I had a feeling Simon was being serious. Oh God, what if Nathan had been hit by a car or something?

_What do you mean? Is he hurt? X_, I replied quickly.

_No, he isn't hurt. It's something else. X_, was the immediate answer.

_Well what then? Stop being so cryptic! X_, I typed impatiently.

_It's too strange to text it. I'll tell you tomorrow. X_, he responded.

_God I hate it when you do things like that. X_, I sent back, but Simon didn't reply.

Curiosity was officially threatening to eat me alive. What did he mean, something was wrong with Nathan? What could Nathan possibly do to make that statement even more evident than it already was?

If Nathan had cheated on me with some kind of skank he'd met wherever he and Simon had gone, I was going to kill him. And slowly, at that. No, I doubted that was the case. Simon would have stopped him doing anything too stupid, and cheating on me definitely fell under the definition of 'too stupid'.

Slightly reassured by this, I switched off my bedside lamp and snuggled down under my duvet in the dark. Though I was half-tempted to just ring Simon and ask him what had happened now, I decided it would be better to do it face-to-face. I mean, how bad could the news be, really?

* * *

"He kissed me!" Simon blurted out the second I asked him what his text had been about the next day. I blinked. Well, cleaning out the bins just got a whole lot more interesting.

"Nathan _kissed _you?" I repeated, checking that I had actually heard him right.

Simon nodded slowly, like the memory traumatized him or something. Which, to be fair, it probably did. "He put his tongue…in my mouth."

I just gaped at him. This didn't make any sense whatsoever. Nathan wasn't gay! I was living, breathing proof of that fact! Hello! Yesterday morning the two of us had…well, what had happened wasn't important! The point remained that you couldn't turn gay overnight!

"He's just being a dickhead," I said. "Trying to wind you up as usual."

"He tried to take my trousers off!" he said defensively, his voice rising slightly.

"Are ya takin' the piss?" said Kelly, sounding doubtful of Simon's revelation.

"He said he wanted to do some…'dry humping'," Simon concluded, cringing slightly. I couldn't help it. I snorted because the idea was so ridiculous. But I could also tell that Simon wasn't lying, which concerned me greatly.

"So what did you do?" I asked.

"I left! Very quickly!" he said, sounding even more awkward than usual. Well I wasn't surprised. Imagine having to tell your best friend that her boyfriend came onto you last night.

"Right. Has anyone actually seen Nathan today?" I asked.

"Yeah, I saw 'im up on the roof, I fink," said Kelly. "Why?"

"I'm going to talk to him. I need to know what the fuck is going on with him," I answered, turning around and heading off in the direction of the community centre.

Sure enough, when I got to the roof, Nathan was curled up in one of the revolving chairs, a piece of paper in one hand, and a pen in the other, which was gliding over the paper as Nathan wrote.

"…I know we could have somethin' really beautiful," I heard him muse aloud as I got closer. "Yours…_forever_, Nathan." It was at this point that my foot connected with the chair he was sitting in, jolting him half out of the chair.

"Jesus! Stop kickin' me!" he cried.

"What the fuck have I told you about dicking Simon around!" I shouted.

"Who's dickin' around?!" he demanded.

"You are, you knob! You stuck your tongue in his _mouth_!" I shrieked, slapping him upside the head. "You've practically traumatized the kid for life!"

Nathan scrambled out of the chair into a standing position. "Jesus! Alright, so I got a little bit fresh with him! I was starin' into those big, beautiful eyes! He's like a…he's like a handsome shark! I couldn't help myself! I love him."

"What the fuck are you going on about?!" I yelled, about three seconds away from punching him in the face. "I'm not being funny, but yesterday you told him if he was bored with being a virgin, you had an overripe melon he could practice having sex with! That is not what you say to someone you love!"

"Do my feelings for him offend you? Well I'm sorry! Because they're true, and pur- well, they're true!"

"Do your 'feelings'-" I made quotation marks in the air with my fingers. "-for him offend me?! Yeah, Nathan, they do!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't pretend any longer! I won't!" he said defiantly.

"So what, you've just suddenly turned gay?! Is that it?!"

"Oh, gay, straight, retarded! Why do we have to put labels on everything?!"

"Because otherwise nobody ever knows what the fuck is going on in the world!" I screamed. There was a slight pause. "What about _me_?" I asked in a small voice.

"What about _you_?" Nathan said, slightly harshly.

"I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, Nathan!"

"Look, I'm sorry it didn't work out, but there's only one person for me, and that's Simon. I've never felt like this about anyone. He completes me!"

"That's from _Jerry Maguire_!"

"Yeah, I know," he said wistfully. "I watched it four times last night. It's like he's Tom and I'm Renée." He suddenly glared at me. "And someone else is the ugly, speccy kid."

"Jesus, no need to get personal!" I muttered angrily.

"Maybe he's what's been missin' from my life," he said, ignoring me. "Why do you think I was always so mean to him?"

"Because you're a cunt!" I shouted.

"No!" he retorted. "It's because it's much easier to humiliate, degrade and just generally shit all over someone, than it is to admit that you love them!"

It felt like someone had just ripped my heart out of my chest and stamped all over it in a pair of size thirteen football boots. I felt tears prickling in the backs of my eyes. "Thanks Nathan. It's nice to know where I stand."

I turned around and practically ran back down the stairs. I managed to get to the girls' toilets and lock myself in a cubicle before I started to cry.

* * *

I hated crying. It made me feel weak, like a target, easy prey. Easy prey to what, I didn't know. But that's what I felt like. It also smeared my eyeliner everywhere, and with the amount that I wore, I ended up looking like a coal miner.

I hated Nathan for making me feel like this. I didn't know where all this 'in love with Simon' bullshit had come from, and apparently neither did Nathan. Either way, he was letting these so-called feelings totally envelop him, and effectively was cutting me out of his life entirely.

Well fuck him. I didn't need him to be happy. I could be perfectly happy without him. _So. Fucking. Happy._ Oh God, I was cracking up. I needed to get a grip. I unlocked the toilet cubicle and stepped out, wiping my eyes, when I froze. I wasn't the only person in the toilets.

Alisha was standing by the sinks, wiping tears off her face and reapplying her make-up. She jumped slightly when I shut the cubicle door, and turned to look at me. "Georgia?"

"Alisha?"

"Why are you crying?" we asked simultaneously.

"It's a long story," we replied in unison.

"You go first," we said at the same time, then both of us cracked small smiles when we realised how ridiculous we sounded.

"Okay, I'll go first," I said quickly. "I think Nathan just dumped me."

"What?" Alisha sounded surprised. "Why?"

"He's talking complete _bullshit_. He says he's in love with Simon! He as good as told me that I'm not good enough for him, the wanker."

"What. The. Fuck," spluttered Alisha. "In love with _Simon_?" I nodded. "What's Simon said about this?"

"He seems completely mentally scarred for life," I said, turning on the tap and splashing cold water on my face. "I think it's safe to say that it's thoroughly a case of unrequited love. Not that that makes me feel any better, mind."

"Jesus. I'm sorry, yeah?" said Alisha.

"It's cool, I'll get over it. Hey, did you get my texts last night?"

"Texts? Er, no. What texts?" Was it me, or did Alisha sound slightly nervous. "I didn't get any texts from you."

"Oh. Must have been a signal cock up." I narrowed my eyes slightly, but didn't persist. Then I noticed the scabbed-over cut on her forehead. It was obvious, I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before. "What up with the cut? It looks like you've got dried tomato purée on your face."

"Er, I tripped over on my way home last night. Yeah, I er, hit my head on a rock. Really fucking hurt, and all."

"Really? There aren't many rocks on the estate."

"No, I er, took a different way home. Through the park."

"Alisha, are you okay? You're acting really strange. What's up with your tears anyway?"

"Oh. Er, it's not important," she said quickly. "What's with the interrogation anyway? I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow." Well if that wasn't suspicious I didn't know what was. But before I even had a chance to ask what was going on, Alisha hurried past me and disappeared out the door.

She was going home? Shit, had I really been in here for the better part of the day? Great, so I had officially fallen into the stereotype of heartbroken ex-girlfriend. Fuck my life. I scrubbed the black streaks from my face, sniffed once and made my way out of the toilets and into the locker rooms. Kelly, Simon and Nathan were all there, all of them nearly changed to go home. I ignored Nathan as I opened my locker and stripped out of my jumpsuit, quickly dressing in my pink skirt and black vest.

I just wanted to go home and drown myself in a tub of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food. Well, not literally drown, but you get what I mean. However, I was slightly sidetracked from my plan when I turned around and saw Nathan skulking behind Simon, literally three centimetres separating the two of them. Simon, who was looking at something in his locker, was totally unaware. Nathan leaned forward and appeared to be smelling Simon's hair when Simon noticed he was there. Then, Simon backed up as much as he could into the lockers, but Nathan just invaded his personal space even more. Nathan held out a small red envelope to him.

"Wh-what's this?" stammered Simon.

"Read it," Nathan said in what I assumed was meant to be a seductive tone, but just made him sound like a right knob. "We'll take things slowly, and when you're ready to develop the physical side of our relationship you just let me know. No pressure." I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing.

"…thanks?" said Simon, looking quite scared.

"It's just so hard when you're so cute, and I'm so horny, and there's only a couple of thin layers of cotton separating our genitals," Nathan whispered. He closed his eyes and leaned in to Simon a bit more, then let out a lovesick sigh, pushing himself off the lockers and wandering out the changing room door.

But before this happened I noticed something. On his shoulder blade, he had a large red tattoo of a heart with _Simon _etched across the centre. Weird. He definitely didn't get that when Kelly and I had our tattoos done.

"Did you know 'e 'ad a tattoo done wiv your name on it?" asked Kelly.

"No!" replied Simon, shaking his head and looking completely I'm-not-going-to-be-able-to-sleep-for-a-week disturbed.

"Oh yeah, nice one. So he thinks he loves you for all of a _day and a half_, and he gets a tattoo with your name on?!" I cried in exasperation. "If that isn't offensive, then I don't know what is!" Hang on a second.

Tattoos. The powers. Nathan had seriously pissed off Vince yesterday. Combine that with the new tattoo on Nathan's shoulder, and everything totally fell into place. Oh, hell no. I was going to _kill _that pervy old tattooed creep!

"That fucking dickheaded twat-faced bastard!" I growled. Kelly and Simon both looked at me. "The tattoo guy- Vince or whatever his name was! I think he did this! He must have a power! Someone get me a crowbar! I'm gonna ram it up his arse!"

"That makes sense," Simon muttered. "I think you're right."

"Of course I am," I said. "I'm me. But seriously though, what are we gonna do about it?"

"I'll go talk to 'im," suggested Kelly. "Vince is a mate, and I fink 'e fancies me. I'll ask 'im to get rid of the bullshit tattoo, yeah?"

"Yeah, good call. But do it soon, yeah? I don't think Simon can take anymore sexual harassment, and heartbroken isn't exactly the best look for me either."

"I'll go now," she said, starting to move out the door.

"Kelly, wait!" I called after her. She stopped, turning around to look at me quizzically. "Whatever you do, _do not get tattooed_!"

* * *

As per usual, the estate was half-empty as I made my way home. Again. I knew Nathan and I had only been together a couple of weeks, but I felt really down that he'd just dumped me on my arse like that, even though it was only a side-effect of the power. It still stung like a bitch.

I wondered if Kelly had spoken to Vince yet. Well, to be more specific, I wondered if she'd asked him to remove Nathan's tattoo because to be honest, if he refused I really was going to ram a crowbar up his arsehole.

I suddenly got the weirdest feeling. It was the kind of feeling where all the hairs on your arms stand on end, and so do the ones on the back of your neck. The kind of feeling you go when your being watched.

I froze. I looked around me for anything suspicious, but the entire place in a fifty-metre radius around me was totally deserted. I kept walking, walking slowly and deliberately to listen out for another set of footsteps, but after five minutes of nothing, I relaxed, walking normally.

Big mistake. One second I was alone, the next, some random guy I'd never seen appeared around the corner. He made as though he was going to walk past me, but at the last second he grabbed hold of me by the shoulders and slammed me into the nearest wall.

"Give me the fucking bag!" the man shouted, pulling on my white satchel.

"Let go of me!" I shrieked, pulling back on the bag. I didn't know what to do, but instincts told me to defend myself, so I brought my leg up, swiftly kneeing the man in the groin and sending him to the ground.

"Fucking _bitch_!" he spat, struggling into a sitting position. I tried to run, but the man reached out and grabbed hold of me around the ankle. I stumbled down to the floor, and the man stood up behind me, grabbing the collar of my denim jacket and slamming me back into the wall. I had seriously pissed this guy off.

His face contorted in anger, the man reached into his pocket and pulled something out. The way whatever it was glinted in the sun made my breath catch in my throat. A knife. _Oh, FUCK_. Now I was really scared.

Wait. I was scared…

Acting on impulse and logical theorem, I grabbed hold of the man around the wrist. Nothing happened. Shit, wasn't I scared enough?

"Get off me, bitch!" the man yelled, trying to pull himself from my grip, but I held on. _Come on, Riches, get it together! Get scared! Get angry! Something! _I rapidly started thinking of anything that made me scared or angry: giant spiders, sharks trying to rip my legs off, zombie cats trying to eat my face, being locked in a dark room, me and my sister arguing…Heat exploded in my hands, radiating up my arms to my elbows.

"ARGH!" the man cried, fully ripping his arm from my grasp, his wrist red and blistered. "What the fuck are you?!"

"Keep the _fuck _away from me!" I growled, and for good measure I kicked the man in the shin.

"You fucking stupid little bitch!" the man snarled, and his hands suddenly came up around my throat, pressing me up against the wall yet again. "I'll kill you for that!" Shit, how did I manage to get myself into these situations?

I pressed my hands against the man's back, but my power didn't seem to be able to burn his leather jacket that much. I could feel the heat, see the smoke, but it clearly wasn't bothering the mugger particularly. Though he hissed in pain every now and again, he just closed his hands tighter around my neck. I could barely gasp for breath.

Suddenly, a mass of black broke through the skylight above us, showering me and the man in broken glass. The guy in the mask! He grabbed hold of the man by the collar and hauled him off me. I slumped to the floor, gasping for breath. Though the man fought, the guy in the mask slammed him into the wall, and threw him to the floor. The mugger scrambled to his feet and started running away. Screaming, I might add.

The guy in the mask took hold of my arm and gently helped me to my feet. Though I was standing just fine, he put his hands on both my shoulders, as though he was checking me for injuries or something.

"Thanks," I said quietly. "But I'm okay. You can let go now." The guy in the mask just stared at me. "Seriously, I'm fine. _Let go_." He didn't let go. Now I was scared again, my hands rapidly heating up. What was he doing?! "LET GO!" I put one of my hands on his hand, squeezing, waiting for the familiar sound and smell of barbequing flesh. But nothing happened. I squeezed harder, but I just couldn't burn him. "Who are you?!" I didn't know what to do. I was scared, but my power seemed to have totally packed in.

Without thinking, I suddenly thrust my head forward, cracking my forehead against his mask in what I had hoped would be a flooring headbutt. Instead, pain exploded along the top of my head, making me feel woozy. The guy in the mask seemed totally unaffected, so I quickly ripped myself from his hands and started running.

I could hear his footsteps running after me, and I was so worried as too why he was following me that I picked up my pace, sprinting faster than I ever had before. I quickly turned, intending to lose him by going down the stairs to another level.

But my head felt light, and I felt really spaced-out. When I had headbutted him, I'd managed to give myself a concussion, and it was rapidly catching up on me. My vision was going fuzzy, and I wondered if I was going to pass out. I needed to keep running…keep running…keep running.

As I went to step onto the first step of the stairs, a sudden wave of pain and nausea hit me, and as I grabbed hold of my head, I lost my footing on the edge of the steps. It felt like it was happening in slow motion. I tumbled down the stairs like I was doing a load of somersaults. As I reached the bottom platform of the stairs, I fell forward with such a force that I smashed the back of my head against the concrete, opening a wound. Pain radiated all over my head, and I could feel blood seeping into my hair. My vision began clouding over.

The last thing I saw was a black figure appearing at the top of the stairs, then the darkness consumed me.

* * *

_It checks you in and kicks you down,  
It chews you up and spits you out,  
It messes with your sanity,  
By twisting all your thoughts around.  
They say it's blind, they say it waits,  
But every time it seals your fate.  
Now it's got you by the balls,  
It won't let go until you fall.  
_**-Halestorm, "Love Bites (So Do I)"**

* * *

**A/N- This chapter was the result of a weekend spent writing FanFiction instead of revising Chemistry. Which, by the way, I totally suck at. So yeah. Feel grateful, guys! Drop me a review, let me know how you're likin' stuff so far. Xx Gee xX**


	27. Seeing Double

**A/N- Guys, there's some stuff I need to tell you, but I'll wait till the end Author's Note to say it. Loooots of thanks to Beebopalula and Gwenlynn for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Seven- Seeing Double**

White light. It was everywhere. Bright. Blinding. Overwhelming. Was this the tunnel you went down when you died? Funny, I'd always assumed that when you died everything just went black. Had I really hit my head that hard? Apparently so.

Everything was blurry in this light. It hurt my eyes to look at it. Speaking of hurting…holy _fuck_, I was in so much pain! My head felt like it was on fire. I assumed this meant I was actually still fully alive and breathing. Death shouldn't have been this frigging painful.

I blinked hard, and everything snapped into focus. I was lying on a duvet that had been placed on the floor of some kind of warehouse flat, and I was staring at a ceiling made entirely of plated lights. The flat reminded me of the makeshift Batcave from _The Dark Knight_. Oh my God. This was where he lived. The guy in the mask.

I scrambled into a sitting position on the duvet. Where the fuck was I? A lift was in the middle of the room, and set into one of the walls was a set of ten digital clocks. Six of them had been timed down to zero, but the other four were still counting down, one for an event happening in eleven hours, the other for something happening in twenty-seven hours, and then a couple for something happening in a few days. Surrounding the clocks were lots of little Polaroid pictures.

Curious, I stood up. I noticed that the guy in the mask had removed my shoes for me before he'd dumped me on the floor, and I was also _sans _my denim jacket. I approached the wall cautiously, like getting too close to the wall would result in me blowing up or something. Truthfully, I was just scared of what I was about to look at.

What I did see made me physically cry out in shock.

All of the pictures were of our community service group. There were pictures of me, pictures of Alisha, pictures of Simon, pictures of Kelly, Nathan and Curtis. Some of them looked like mug shots, others like they'd been taken with long-ranging cameras, like the paparazzi used. Holy shit, what was going on?!

I moved closer to the pictures, running my hand over them. A picture of me and Simon reading a _Batman _comic together. A picture of Alisha and Curtis smiling at each other. A picture of Kelly rolling a cigarette outside the community centre. A picture of me mid-screaming something at Nathan. There were pictures documenting practically everything the six of us had done over the past four or five weeks. "Who are you?" I muttered aloud.

A sudden grinding-whirring noise made me jump out my skin. I wildly looked around for the source of the noise, and my eyes fell on the lift shaft in the middle of the room. He was coming up! Oh God, what the hell was I supposed to do? Hide? Tackle him the second he came out the lift and rip his mask of his face? Drop back on the duvet on the floor and act like I'd never woken up? Well, that last one seemed like a good bet. The guy might take off his mask if he didn't think I was awake.

I quickly threw myself down on to the duvet and arranged myself in roughly the same position I'd been in before I'd gotten up. Just in time too, because as I closed my eyes I heard the lift come to a stop, and the door grating open. There were some tapping footsteps that passed by me, and I slitted open my eyes slightly to see what was going on.

The guy in the mask was looking over the wall of pictures and clocks. He sighed, then pulled down his hood, leaving the paintballing mask on. He had short, mousy brown hair, and his skin was very pale. I waited with bated breath as he reached forward and tugged off the mask. _Turn around! Turn around! _I silently willed him, and he did.

When he did, and when I saw who it was, it nearly made me re-pass out. Forgetting that I was supposed to be unconscious, I jumped to my feet and screamed, "Simon!? What the _fuck_?!"

Simon blinked, then smirked, a strange overly confident look for him. "I thought you were unconscious? How's your head?"

I raised a hand to the back of my head where I'd hit it falling down the stairs, and I felt a lump the size of a small egg nestling beneath my hair, which was really sore. Then I snapped. "Oh no! No, no, no! Don't you even _try_ and turn this conversation around to me! What the actual fuck is going on?!" I shouted. "How long have you been taking our little comic ideas seriously!? When I said it would be cool if you and me were Batman and Batgirl, I didn't mean for you to take it literally! When were you planning on telling me about this!?"

Simon snorted. "I'd forgotten how overdramatic you were sometimes."

"_Overdramatic_?!" I shrieked. "Since when are you confident in yourself enough to say that to me?!" I advanced on him. "Simon, _what's going on_?"

"I know this is weird," he said, putting his hands on the tops of my arms, pinning my arms to my sides - to restrain or comfort me, I didn't know. "But there's stuff you don't know, things I'd never expect you to understand."

"So now you're calling me stupid," I said, folding my arms. "You just keep digging that hole, Simon."

"I'm not calling you stupid," Simon said patiently. "I'm just saying there are things you won't understand without, as you like to put it, your brain exploding and dribbling out of your ears in a fleshy pink mess."

"Jesus Christ!" I exploded. "Stop being so fucking mysterious! Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?!"

"I'm still your best friend," Simon insisted. "But there's…complications."

"Fucking complications, my arse," I growled. "Explain. _Now_. Since when did you do backflips off buildings and stand up to muggers and just generally start acting like you actually have a set of balls?"

"Ever since I travelled back from the future." The blunt way in which he said it made my jaw drop practically to the floor.

"The future. You travelled back from the _future_?!" I repeated to make sure I'd heard him right.

"Yes."

"You've gotta be shitting me. Are you being serious?!" Simon nodded. "So what? There's like, two of you! Urck, you're right, my brain feels like it's completely mushed up."

"There's the Simon you know, the present Simon," he explained. "And there's also me. The future Simon."

"What…but…that's…oh my God!" I spluttered. "How does this even work?!"

"It's a long, complicated story," Simon replied. "There are things that need to happen at certain times, and I'm here to make sure that they do."

"So that's the only reason you came back? Because things need to happen?" Simon remained silent. It was a silence that made my stomach clench with worry. "Why are you being so cagey? Does something bad happen? Are we gonna die!?"

"No! You're not going to die. I won't let that happen."

"Then _why_!? What _is _all this?" I gestured around the flat, but didn't let him answer that question before I blustered on with, "Why doesn't my power work on you?! I tried to burn you, but nothing happened, not even a slight singe. Why?"

"I can't tell you. It could change everything and create an alternate reality to the future I'm from."

"Urgh, I have a headache," I moaned. "Time travel, alternate realities, two of the same person?! It's all too much! Jesus Christ."

"Hey, you're the one who asked about this." Simon shrugged.

"Yeah, and now I'm kinda wishing I hadn't!" I groaned, rubbing the back of my head, where I felt a large bump from where I'd fallen down the stairs. "I need to sit down." I moved away from Simon and collapsed down on the concrete slab and mattress that appeared to serve as the bed. I pulled the duvet up over my head, effectively cutting off all sources of light. My head was totally reeling. I just couldn't believe it.

Simon Bellamy- serial nerd and world's most awkward person _ever_- had travelled back in time to become a fucking ersatz-superhero and keep us all from dying. Mindfuck, man. I felt the mattress dip beside me, then a hand patted at the duvet over my head.

"Do you believe me?" Simon's voice was hushed slightly by the duvet.

"I don't want to, but I guess I kind of have to," I replied, my own voice also muffled.

"I know it's a lot to take in."

"No shit! This is insane! I can't feel my brain anymore! It's literally like soup in my skull!"

I heard Simon laugh quietly. "Can you come out from under there? It's hard to take this seriously when you're talking through a duvet."

I pulled the duvet off my face, sitting up as I did so, feeling chilled air hit my skin. I just kind of stared at Simon, who in turn fixed me with a similar look. We both broke eye contact at the same time, dissolving into laughter. It was so strange. I was sitting with a boy who looked and sounded exactly like the Simon I knew and loved, and it wasn't him. But there was one truly obvious discrepancy.

"You act so different," I commented. "This is all so fucking surreal. But it's so freaking cool!"

"Why the sudden change of heart?" asked Simon, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Well, think about it!" I said animatedly. "You're a superhero! It's like every daydream you- well, present you- and me have ever spoken about!"

"I'm not sure I'm really a superhero," said Simon, smiling.

"Shut up with the modesty! You totally are! THIS IS AMAZING! You know that you need a cool new superhero name though, right? Because 'Simon' just doesn't cut it."

"Oh, thanks!"

"What? You know I have a point!" I said, but I couldn't keep the overexcited smile off my face. "You can be…" I trailed off, looking around the flat for some form of inspiration. My eyes clocked on the hood of Simon's padded uniform/Batsuit thingy. "You can be Superhoodie!"

"'Superhoodie'? Well, I guess it has a ring to it."

"Of course it does, I came up with it. Oh my God! I just had the best idea ever! I could be your adorable little sidekick! I could be like, The Masked Girl or something!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"The Masked Girl? Really?" said Simon dubiously.

"Okay, fine, so that's not my best idea," I said defensively. "I'll think of something else. Either way, pleeaasee?!"

"As much as I think it would be amusing to see you running around trying to do backflips," Simon said. "You can't. It's too dangerous for you, I had to train for a long time."

"Aw, seriously!?" I whined, and Simon nodded. "Urgh, I hate you."

"I know. You've said that on numerous occasions," Simon joked. I was only half-listening. I was more occupied by staring at the pictures on the walls. Some of them were of times and events that, as far as I could tell, hadn't actually happened yet. I stood up, going back over to the wall.

"Why are there so many pictures?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the wall.

"The same reason the clocks are there," Simon answered, also standing up. "Things need to happen at the right time."

"Oh, right," I said, starting to wander around the flat. Simon followed after me, like he was making sure I wouldn't break anything or something. Jeez, I knew I was clumsy, but I wasn't that bad!

Over by the wall next to Simon's bed was a table-type worktop space. It was mostly covered with plastic boxes, but there were also a few photos that Simon hadn't tacked up yet, lying face down. "Hey, what are these?" I asked, picking one up.

"No, don't!" Simon shouted, but it was too late. I'd already turned the picture around.

"Oh. My. God." I'd been expecting the picture to be of something simple, to be one of the borderline-stalkerish pictures on the wall. Not this. I had been expecting anything but this.

The picture was of me and Nathan. Nothing weird about that, I know. The two of us were standing in a park, by a big tree. It looked like the park here in Wertham. The two of us were grinning wildly, sticking up a V to the camera. Again, nothing weird about that. The weird thing, the thing that was so goddamn strange, and just straight out confusing, was the small but obvious bump that was sticking out between my hips.

I was pregnant. I was having a baby. I, Georgia Riches, was going to have a baby. Nathan and I were going to be parents. In the picture, Nathan and I looked literally no different, so the picture hadn't been taken much longer than six or so months in the future.

"What the _fuck _is this all about?!" I demanded, brandishing the photo at him. "I…me…pregnant…me and Nathan…parents…Jesus fucking Christ on a bike! When was this picture taken?!"

"Next year, after Christmas but before…something else," Simon mumbled, clearly slightly annoyed that I'd picked up the picture.

"A baby. I have a fucking _baby_. I'm going to be a teen mum. Oh, the _humiliation_," I said dramatically, trying to hide the fact I was completely dumbfounded. "The dad!" I said suddenly. "It's Nathan's baby, right?"

"Yes, it is," Simon replied.

"How many months gone am I? In this picture?"

Simon looked at the picture over my shoulder. "I think you said you were about five months, maybe a bit less. Yeah, I can remember it was just after you and Nathan went for your twenty-week scan. Nathan was annoyed because you wouldn't let him find out what gender the baby was."

"What is it? You must know, you'd have been there! Come on, tell me! Do we have a little girl or boy?"

Simon smiled. "Spoiler alerts. I'm not telling you that."

"Killjoy. You're aware that this _has _to happen, right?" I said, still staring at the picture in my hands. "If I don't get pregnant, then the space-time continuum will like, implode on itself. I literally have to have a baby for this picture to be taken. Well, that's all forms of protected sex between me and Nathan going out the window."

"I really didn't need to know that," said Simon, cringing slightly.

"Still as awkward around the topic of sex as ever, I see."

"I'm sorry, but there really are things I don't need to hear, ever. That was one of them."

"Sorry. Oh my God, though. I can't believe this. I mean, I've wanted to have a baby since I was about sixteen, but I never imagined I'd have one so early."

"It shocked all of us," Simon said wryly. "Considering the two most dysfunctional people we knew were going to bring up a child they'd procreated together."

"Ouch. Harsh, man. I'm sure I'll be able to keep my dysfunctional-ism under control for my kid. Nathan, I'm not so sure about." It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea how long I'd be unconscious, or what time it was. "Not to sound rude or nothing, but what the fuck is the time? Where's my bag? It has my phone in."

"Here," he said simply, picking up my satchel from where it had been lying on the floor under the worktop-table.

"Thanks," I said, opening the satchel and rooting around in it until I came across the pink casing of my iPhone. I pulled the phone out and unlocked it. "Shit! It's midnight?! Oh God. I need to go. There's no way I'm walking the streets in the dark." I made my way over to the lift, shaking my head slightly as I did so, trying to clear my brain. I pulled the door to the lift to the side and stepped in, but before I could close it, Simon called my name. "What?" I replied.

"You can't tell anyone about this," he said seriously. "Not any of the others. Not Kelly, not Simon, not Nathan, not _anybody_. For me. Please, it could change everything."

"I…I won't," I said quietly. "I promise." Simon then did something slightly unexpected. He crossed the space between me and him in about five steps and suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. I could feel the padding of his uniform thing digging into my chest as I put my arms around him and returned the hug, as I felt it would be awkward if I just stood there, unresponsive.

"I've missed you," he said. "I hoped I'd get to see you again."

"I'd like to say I've missed you to," I said once we'd finished hugging. "But since I didn't actually know you existed as your 'future self', I assumed the only Simon I knew was the present Simon. I'll…I'll see you soon, I hope." I stepped back into the lift and wrenched the door shut with a clang. As soon as I felt the lift slowly moving downwards, I slumped against the wall, wondering what the fuck had just happened.

* * *

I wandered home in the dark in a complete daze. I didn't know where I was, where I was going, who I was, or anything. The only thing my brain could properly process was what had just happened. _Okay, so let's list this out:_

_1) There is two of my best friend- and one of them is from the fucking future._

_2) Said futuristic best friend is effectively the reason none of us have died in the last few weeks._

_3) Future Simon has pictures of things that happen in the future, things that haven't happened yet. I am in one of these photos._

_4) In said photo, I am around five months pregnant. The picture couldn't have been taken more than six months in the future._

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: you couldn't make this shit up. I was going to be a mum. Worse than that, I was going to be a _teen _mum. Jesus, just when I thought my life couldn't get anymore complicated. I really was taking after my mother, who had had me when she was nineteen.

However, I did have enough brain capacity left to work out that this meant Nathan and I would get back together somehow. I hoped it meant that Vince removed the tattoos, as I couldn't see it happening any other way. Nathan had his head rammed so far up Simon's arse I'm amazed he could see (metaphorically speaking, obviously).

The dark was freaking the shit out of me. Why couldn't I have been given a really useful power, like being able to glow in the dark!? That would solve so many problems. Like how to see where the fuck I was. I'd just kind of meandered my way away from Future Simon's flat, hoping I'd find myself back on a part of the estate that I knew. No such luck. I'd already been mugged once today/yesterday; I didn't want it to happen again.

Luckily, I eventually found my way back to the main part of the estate after about half an hour, and then it only took another twenty minutes before I found myself practically collapsing through my front door, suddenly totally exhausted. God, what had just happened? I felt sick. To be perfectly honest, I just wanted to go to sleep and forget that what had just happened had happened at all.

I stripped off my clothes and pulled a t-shirt nightie over my head, crawling into bed as I did so. It was still pitch black, and according to my alarm clock, coming up to one in the morning. Oh God, I had to get up in about five or six hours and face reality again. The reality where everything I thought was normal- that I only had one Simon in my life, and that I was going to live a decent life before I lumbered myself with a baby- was basically bullshit.

I needed to stop thinking about this, or I was going to give myself an aneurysm or something. Nope, a good night's sleep was in order. Tomorrow it was time to face the music, to get Vince to get rid of Nathan's janky tattoo and get my life back into some working order, the life where Nathan wasn't gay and was still my boyfriend and the life where, as far as I wanted to know, there was only one Simon Bellamy.

Ha, yeah right.

* * *

"_And I'm seeing double vision,  
Everybody's singing like,  
Hey, na na na,  
Hey, hey, na na na na."  
_**-3OH!3, "Double Vision"**

**A/N- Here's what I need to tell you. I think this chapter is shit. Honestly, I've never felt so bad about a chapter in this whole story, but I'm having a 'fuck it' moment and posting it. Please keep that in mind when/if you review.  
Also, here's the thing: the incentive around the fact I haven't updated for a while is for two reasons:1) I've been revising for my GCSEs (so effing boring),  
2) I lent my friend my Series 2 DVD on Wednesday which she's only just given back, and my mother has banned me from using 4oD since the last time I used it I accidentally drained our month's worth of internet.  
****3) I've had one fucker of a case of writer's block.  
Not that I think you care, but I felt an explanation was in order. I'd also like to apologise for the chapter being so short, but like I said, writer's block.  
I'd still love for you to review, as I'm having a bit of an insecure thought-bubble around this chapter. I love you guys. Xx Gee xX**


	28. Looking For A Needle In A Tattoo Parlour

**A/N- Huh. So much for a hiatus. My inspiration seemed to come speeding back no more than twenty-four hours after posting my hiatus note. Typical, isn't it? So, here's Chapter Twenty-Eight, slightly later than usual, but still here. I hope you like it. Some tears were shed. Well, not really. Extra specially special thanks to Becca, Beebopalula and Gwenlynn for reviewing! (Chapter Twenty-Seven, obviously. Not the hiatus note. No one reviewed that. If they had it would have been weird.)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Eight- Like Looking For A Needle In A Tattoo Parlour**

Well, shit. What had been the last thing, _the very last thing_ I'd said to Kelly before she went off to talk to Vince? Oh yeah: "Whatever you do, _do not get tattooed_!"

And what did she do? She fucking got tattooed!

Simon- present Simon, obviously- and I stared in complete horror and disgust at the heart on her shoulder. The tattoo was identical to Nathan's, but Kelly's read _Vince _through the middle. Oh God, no. I really felt sick now. Who in their right mind would want to date a creepy pervert like Vince, for fuck sake?!

"As if things couldn't have gotten any more complicated," I muttered to Simon.

"This is very bad," he mumbled back. The locker room door opened, and Nathan strolled in. He tried to kiss Simon on the cheek, but Simon flinched back in time to avoid it. Sighing in a yearning fashion, Nathan turned and caught sight of Kelly's new ink. Soon enough, the two of them were admiring the sight of their lovely matching tattoos in the mirror.

"I don't even remember 'avin' that done," said Kelly.

"Yeah, neither do I," agreed Nathan. He turned to Simon. "I don't regret it though. Not one little bit." I facepalmed. Jesus, this was getting old now.

"The tattoos are controlling you!" Simon informed them. "That tattoo guy did them."

"Er, Vince wouldn't do that, 'e luvs me!" Kelly said discordantly.

"That's your tattoo talking!" Simon told her.

"Aw, cute _and _clever," Nathan cooed amorously, reaching out to touch Simon's face.

"And that's yours," said Simon irritably, slapping Nathan's hand away.

"Right, this is doing my head in!" I exclaimed, slamming back against my locker in aggravation and trying to ignore the shooting pain that jolted up my spine. "The second we finish for the day, we're going to that tattoo parlour and physically _making _Vince remove the tattoos. If he thinks he can get away with this, then he _so _has another thing coming!" Like my fist towards his face.

After that, our day's shift set off like a snail. I could hardly focus on anything. All that was flowing through my head was the thought of how today would end. Would we be able to get the real, normalish Kelly and Nathan back? I bloody hoped so.

Watching Nathan incessantly- and unsuccessfully- flirt, grope and just generally stalk Simon was getting extremely tiresome and boring now. Hearing Kelly prattle on about how 'fit' and 'hot' Vince was physically made me want to both vomit and cry. But they weren't the only ones acting strangely.

Alisha was acting off as well. She floated around as if in a trance, jumping if anyone spoke to her and seemed totally lost in her thoughts. It was pretty obvious something huge was going on with her. As her friend, I probably should have asked her what the matter was, but I was too wrapped up in my own notions to enquire.

Still, the end of the day rolled round…slowly…so slowly. I practically sprinted into the changing rooms, ripped off my jumpsuit and yanked on my denim shorts and _Avengers_ t-shirt before hurrying to meet the others in the main hallway.

They were all milling around, leaning against the walls or sitting on the floor. Everyone except for Alisha. Nathan was leaning heavily against Simon, who was looking determinedly at something on his phone, Kelly was re-tying her ponytail in the reflection of the probation office window and Curtis was sitting by the doors, glaring moodily at the wall.

"Come on guys!" I called, clapping my hands at them. "Let's get this shit done! There's stuff I need to be doing later." Like beating the shit out of a de-gayed Nathan for breaking my heart. We all traipsed out the front door to the front courtyard. However, instead of continuing to walk, Kelly and Nathan sat down somewhat adamantly on one of the benches.

"What are you doing!?" I growled at them. "Get up! We need to go!"

"We need to get him to remove the tattoos!" Simon said concurrently.

"I really don't fink 'e did it!" retorted Kelly irately.

"I need to find Alisha!" said Curtis suddenly. "We had a big fight."

"Hey man, love hurts, okay?" said Nathan, sounding possibly on the verge of tears. Hmph. Good. He looked directly at Simon. "It chews ya up and spits ya out. Like a big ball of mucus."

"Yeah, I can vouch for that," I said sourly, glaring at Nathan, who raised his eyebrows at me like he was confused.

"Oi!" Kelly said, nudging Nathan in the ribs and looking at something upwards. We all followed her gaze. It was the guy in the mask. Shit, no, Future Simon. What was he doing here? Aha, this must have been what one of those clocks was counting down to. But why? What could he possibly help us with now? The only thing he could help us with was frogmarching Nathan and Kelly to the tattoo parlour.

"It's him!" Nathan announced, jumping to his feet and jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Er, we _can _see that," I snapped.

"Wot does 'e _want_?" asked Kelly.

"Hi," Simon called up tentatively, totally unaware- of course- that he was talking to himself. Literally.

Desperate to impress Simon, Nathan waved up at Future Simon. "You alright there, fella?" Future Simon didn't acknowledge their greetings in any way, shape or form. Instead, he reached for something in his belt.

"He's got a gun!" Nathan shrieked, leaping in front of Simon as if to shield him from the impacting 'bullets'. Kelly ran and hid behind one of the concrete pillars holding up the community centre veranda, and Curtis ducked down behind the bench Kelly and Nathan had been standing on. I, knowing full well Future Simon wasn't going to shoot us, just stood there as Future Simon threw something down to us and backflipped off the roof and out of sight.

I hurried over to the item now lying on the ground, reaching it just as Simon managed to wrestle himself away from Nathan's 'protection.' It was a small, navy blue foil packet.

"Hey, check this out," I said, picking the packet up and tossing it to Simon, who managed to catch it with one hand.

"It's peanuts," he said with a slight frown. "Dry roasted."

"All that drama and he drops of a snack?" said Nathan through a scoff.

"Why's 'e given os peanots?" demanded Kelly.

"Oh yeah, like we know," I said sarcastically.

"Maybe he knows I missed lunch," Nathan drawled infuriatingly. It was a comment that seemed to piss Curtis off the most, as he turned and delivered such a death glare to Nathan I'm amazed Nathan's head didn't catch fire. "I suppose you've got a better explanation than that?" he said defensively.

"Anything, _anything _else you could possibly come up with, would be better than that!" Curtis snarled at him.

"Alright Touchy, just 'cause you and your girlfriend split up!" Nathan said haughtily.

"We didn't split up!" yelled Curtis, giving Nathan a sharp push.

"Alright ladies, put your handbags down and your weaves away," I said wearily.

"We should go to the tattoo parlour," Simon put in hesitantly. He looked at Curtis. "Are you coming?"

"Let's just get this done, alright?" he muttered, starting to walk off. Simon followed him, but as he passed Nathan, I noticed Nathan doing something highly weird, even for him.

"Did you just smell him?!" I demanded. Nathan smirked at me in a way that made me want to hit him in the face with a scalding-hot iron. "That's just all kinds of weird, Nathan!"

* * *

Arriving at the tattoo parlour, I suddenly felt extremely nervous. Exactly how were we going to make Vince remove the tattoos? I supposed I could burn him, but if anything it seemed more likely that I'd also get some shitty tattoo if I did that.

Still, not one to back down for what I believed was right (very often), I seized the handle of the parlour door and pushed it open, gesturing at the others to follow me. It was jarringly dark inside, but the harsh blue of the fluorescent lights was also making my eyes hurt. The place was totally empty- no clients, so sign of Vince himself. Nothing.

It was seriously weird, like one of those moments in a TV show where you think everything's okay, and then the windows explode and it turns out that your arch nemesis that you've never met has rigged up some poor bastard to explode if you don't solve the crime they've sent you in less than twelve hours…and here came the hysterics. Already.

My heels clicked on the concrete floor, and I found myself wishing I'd worn Converse or ballet flats. Simon shut the door with a bang that was slightly louder than necessary, and a few seconds later, a door somewhere to the back of the tattoo parlour opened. The man of the hour himself, Vince walked in, looking slightly puzzled.

"Ah, there he is! Mr Dick!" drawled Nathan. _Ooh, burn, _I thought bitterly. _Twat. _Calling someone a dick really wasn't that big an insult. However, Nathan apparently wasn't done as he felt the need to elaborate, "Because of the tattoo? On your cock?"

"So what is this?" Vince asked in his throaty voice.

"We know about the tattoos!" Simon announced audaciously; a bit of a difference for him.

"I told you that 'e didn't do it!" Kelly spat.

"Not the time, Kel!" I said loudly, holding a hand up to her.

"Just get rid of the bullshit tattoos, yeah?" Curtis ordered Vince, who smirked.

"Or what?" he demanded with a gruff chuckle.

"Or get ready to feel the pain!" Nathan shouted.

"Trust me, mate, I am _not _afraid to kick you in the dick with these!" I said dangerously, gesturing to my five-inch heels.

"Ya not gonna hurt 'im!" proclaimed Kelly, walking over to Vince and putting her arms around him. I threw up a little in my mouth. Urgh urgh urgh urgh!

"You're on our side!" Nathan dissented, flapping his hand at her in an attempt to bring her back to us.

"Ah, 'e's so fit," Kelly practically purred, blanking Nathan entirely. Oh look, a little more mouth-vomit.

"Lose the tattoos!" commanded Curtis, taking a step forward. Vince grinned almost manically as he pointed his tattoo pen at Curtis. There was a vague humming noise, and the air wavered like in a sci-fi movie when someone teleports. Suddenly Curtis groaned in pain, doubling over. He coughed twice, and a mist of blood splattered into his hands. Eyes wide with shock, he lifted his tank top up , exposing the tattoo of a large carving knife sliding into his abdomen. It took me a second to realise the realistic-looking inked blood trickling from the wound was so realistic-looking because it was actual blood.

"What the fuck have you done to him!" I screamed.

"He's stabbed me!" Curtis gasped out, stumbling backwards. Nathan caught him and helped him to the ground with a, "Woah, woah, woah!"

"She stays," Vince said menacingly, gesturing at Kelly with the tattoo pen. "You go."

"Don't just stand there!" Curtis moaned from the floor.

"Right, right, right!" said Nathan, panicked. "What do we do?" he whispered to me and Simon.

"I don't know! I'm not good in these situations!" I hissed back. Simon and I were looking wildly around the parlour for something, _anything _that would give us some indication as to how to get rid of the tattoos and stop Curtis from bleeding out on the floor. Then my eyes fell on the startlingly obvious, bright red NUT ALLERGY sign painted on the walls. _Duh_. Now the bag of peanuts Future Simon had kindly left for us made a whole lotta sense.

"Oi," I muttered, nudging Simon in the ribs. "Look." I gestured subtly with my eyes at the sign. Simon clocked the sign quickly, then he looked at me and nodded slightly. He then turned to glare at Vince. Oh God, things were about to get reeaal Western-like.

Simon whipped the bag of unsalted peanuts out of his trouser pocket and brandished them at Vince. "Remove the tattoos!" he demanded. "Or I open the nuts!"

The terrified expression that darted over Vince's face would have made me laugh if it wasn't for the fact that Curtis was slowly dying on the floor.

"He stabbed me and you're offering him _peanuts_?!" Curtis choked out incredulously.

"Nuts are his kryptonite!" Simon said, and was met by blank looks from everyone. Everyone except me.

"Y'know, from _Superman_!" I explained. Again, more blank looks. "Look, now's really not the time to be discussing comics! You!" I shouted at Vince. "Fucking remove the tattoos before I stick one of these shoes in your knob and leave it hanging there!"

Vince jerked the tattoo needle he was pointing at Kelly away from her, pointing it directly at me. Fuck. The air wavered again, and a burning pain shot through my stomach. I lifted up the hem of my t-shirt, revealing a single tattooed bloody hole in my stomach. I wasn't stupid; I could tell this was the tattoo-equivalent of a gunshot wound. Blood was trickling on to my hands as I covered the hole, but my knees buckled, and I went crashing back into Nathan.

Thankfully, he caught me under the arms, holding me close to him. "I've got you. It's alright, it's alright, you'll be fine," he repeated quietly as he gently put me down to the floor.

"It fucking hurts!" I howled. It felt like my whole torso was on fire. I coughed a couple of times, sending a spray of blood down on to the grey cotton of my t-shirt, accidentally coating Captain America's face in the sticky red stuff.

"Listen," Vince said calmly, totally ignoring the fact that now two people were dying on his floor. "I'm sure we can work something out. _Don't _open those nuts."

"You want some?" Simon asked him, in what I imagined he thought was an intimidating tone, bless him. "Dry roasted!"

"Aw, so butch!" Nathan cooed, moving over to Simon and stepping on my hand by accident as he did so, all traces of compassion towards me gone.

"Oh, when I stop dying, I'm gonna fucking kill you, Nathan!" I shouted, coughing up another mouthful of blood as I did so.

"LISTEN!" Vince suddenly shrieked. "Drop the nuts-" he pointed the tattoo gun at Kelly. "Or I'll take her eye out!"

"Leave her alone!" I screeched, trying to ignore the pain in my stomach and the blood on my hands.

"Aw, he's so sexy," Kelly clucked at him, ignoring the fact her 'boyfriend' was attempting to kill two of her friends, and also ignoring that he had threatened to take her eye out.

"Let her go!" Simon shouted, readying himself to open the peanut bag.

"PUT. YOUR NUTS. ON THE FLOOR!" Even in the totally dire state of the situation, I couldn't stop a hysterical giggle escaping my throat. That's how ridiculous this whole thing was- I was laughing even though I was slowly dying.

"Don't make me do it!" Simon yelled.

"Drop the nuts!"

"Drop the gun!"

"Will someone tell me what's goin' on!?" cried Nathan.

"Two of us still bleeding out on the floor over here!" I shouted.

"I will shoot her in the eye!" screamed Vince, stabbing the pen at Kelly.

"Let her go!" Simon bellowed, then, with a scream, he pulled open the packet of peanuts. The nuts went flying everywhere, and yet not one of them actually managed to hit Vince. Oh, genius.

Vince grimaced in fury and directed the tattoo pen at Simon. The air shifted for a third time, and a barbed wire tattoo delimited around Simon's neck. He fell to his knees, gasping and choking as Nathan rushed over to him.

"Simon!" he yelled anguishedly, wrapping his arms around him. "Please don't kill him!" he begged Vince. "My beautiful boy!"

"What about the person who used to be your beautiful girl!?" I shrieked, feeling woozy. My vision was starting to blur at the edges. "I'm dying too!"

Despite the fact Simon was literally having the life choked out of him, he managed to extract himself from Nathan's oh-so-loving grasp and throw himself forward. I couldn't properly tell what was happening. Everything was blurring now- faces, furniture, the walls. I was going to die, or at the very least pass out.

"I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO!" Vince hollered, presumably at Kelly, but he was abruptly cut off as Simon used what little strength he had left to launch a single peanut into Vince's open mouth. With a choking noise, Vince released Kelly and started flailing around, slamming into the walls as his throat began to close up.

After that, I was too woozy to properly comprehend what was happening. I could hear bangs and crashes as Vince mumbled, "My epi-pen!", and I saw Simon hurl himself across the room to stop Vince reaching the pen.

There were more crashes, and choked voices I couldn't properly distinguish as I started to black out. _Well, goodbye cruel world. I'd like to say it's been fun. But I'd be lying_.

But just as soon as I thought that was it, my vision came snapping back. All the pain in my chest, the bleeding, the fiery hotness radiating around the tattoo totally vanished. Everything was gone. Like it had never happened. I sat up gingerly and coughed into my hands once, and the tiniest spurt of blood came out. I pressed my hands to my eyes, ignoring the fact I was wearing eyeliner, and wiped away my tears. When I removed my hands, Nathan had crouched down next to me, his green eyes looking into my blue ones anxiously.

"You're alright now?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I was aware how wavering my voice was, and I was also aware that, as Nathan took my arm to help me to my feet, my hands were shaking too.

I turned to look at the others in time to see Kelly deliver a swift kick to Vince's ribs, who had the epi-pen lodged in his chest. Simon was unsteadily climbing to his feet, and Curtis was already up, glaring at Vince.

"How are you all?" Simon asked us as we left the building.

"I don't really wanna talk about it," muttered Curtis, already walking off in a totally different direction.

"I'm traumatized and severely freaked out," I answered. "So no different to usual, really." I threw my arms around Simon and hugged him tightly. "I can't fucking believe you did that! It was so brave of you! Thank you!" Simon, who, as usual, had no idea how to respond to a compliment, just smiled at me.

"You fink _you're _traumatized?!" said Kelly crossly. "At least ya didn't hafta fockin' kiss that twat! But she's right," she added gratefully to Simon. "Ya fockin' did it!"

"Alright, so he saved us, big deal!" Nathan said dismissively. "It wasn't that great." Hmm, Nathan. I needed to have a rather long conversation with the curly-haired Irishman now that he was newly straightened. Literally.

_Kelly, this is another one of them times where I need you to get everyone to vanish, _I thought at her.

"I'm gonna go get a pint," she said suddenly. "I need the fockin' alcohol after that. C'mon Simon, you're comin' too."

"Am I?" he said with a frown, and Kelly gave him a look that blatantly said, _Come on, move it. _"Are you coming?" he asked me and Nathan.

"No, we've got stuff to discuss," I said, cutting off Nathan's answer. "We'll see you tomorrow." I grabbed Nathan's hand and dragged him along behind me. I waited until we were a few streets away before rounding on him.

"_So_," I said, hands on hips. "I'm going out on a limb here and assuming that, because Kelly remembers everything, so do you."

"Well, it's a little bit fuzzy…" he trailed off, not meeting my eye.

"Bullshit. So I'm guessing you remember what you said to me?"

"I didn't mean it!" he said, pretty sincerely for Nathan. "It was that bullshit tattoo makin' me do all the talkin', I swear!"

"You called me ugly!" I shrieked.

"Oh for God's sake," he said exasperatedly, putting his arms around me and pulling me into a tight hug. "Am I supposed to be apologizin' for somethin' I didn't have any control over?"

"Pretty much, yeah," I said. "It would sure as hell make me feel a lot better."

"Okay, fine," he amended, holding me at arm's length. "I'm sorry that I called you ugly, and kissed Barry- which, by the way, we're never speakin' of ever again- and dumped you _even though _I didn't mean it. Happy?"

"Well, I guess it will do," I said mischievously, and allowed Nathan to give me another hug. His hand laced itself in my hair, and I couldn't stop myself hissing in pain as he touched the lump on my head where I'd hit it falling down the stairs yesterday.

"Jesus, what did I do!?" Nathan sounded worried.

"Nothing. You just, er, accidentally pulled my hair a bit," I lied. I removed myself from the hug and took his hand, and the two of us headed off in the direction of my flat.

"Well, I have to say, that was an unexpected turn of events," Nathan said as we turned down my street.

"What? You mean you being a big, proud, beautiful gay man?" I said with a laugh.

"I'm not gay!" Nathan protested. "Look at me!" He dropped my hand and flexed his muscles.

"Oh relax, Arnold Schwarzenegger," I said, shaking my head, but I was also smiling.

"I bet you were jealous, weren't you?" Nathan teased me, looping his arm around my waist. "Jealous of ol' Weird Kid?"

"I don't do jealousy, darling," I said in a pseudo-upper class voice. "I'm far too gorgeous to waste my time feeling sorry for myself." Lies, but still. He didn't know that. "For all I knew, you really _were _homosexualised."

"I'm not fuckin' gay! I'm like, ninety-eight percent sure I'm not gay!" Nathan practically shouted. By this point, we'd reached my flat and Nathan suddenly pinned me against the door. He leaned forward so our noses were touching. "Would you like me to prove it to you?"

I turned and stuck my key in the lock, pushing open the door as I did so. I smartly stepped away from Nathan and headed into the living room, dumping my bag on the coffee table as I did so.

"Aw, come on, seriously?" Nathan whined, trekking in after me. "I've apologized, what more d'you want?"

"This," I said, whirling round and punching him full in the face.

"What the fuck?!" he yelped, clutching his nose. "What the fuck was that for?!"

"For unintentionally breaking my heart," I said nonchalantly, shrugging. As Nathan wailed in pain, I somewhat sadistically smirked. "Well I feel better now. Come on," I said, giving him a kiss. "Now you can prove it to me."

* * *

"_I want your love and I want your revenge,  
You and me could write a bad romance.  
I want your love and all your love is revenge,  
You and me could write a bad romance."  
_**-Lady GaGa, "Bad Romance"  
[I prefer the Halestorm version, but hey-ho]**

* * *

**A/N- Happy. That's what I am. Very, very, very happy with this chapter. I know, it's a fucking miracle. I hope you guys like it as much as I like it, even though it's still a bit shorter than usual. Let me know! The traditional way tends to be through a review, but I'm not opposed to a note in a bottle! (Kidding. Just a review will be fine) Xx Gee xX  
References:  
"...the windows explode and it turns out that your arch nemesis that you've never met has rigged up some poor bastard to explode if you don't solve the crime they've sent you in less than twelve hours..." is technically part of the plotline for the **_**Sherlock **_**episode **_**The Great Game**_**. Wlkenoqbpdglenjg I LOVE BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH. Er, sorry about that, I had a fangirl moment.**


	29. GTA, Motherfuckers!

**A/N- So it's adios to Episode 3, and hola to Episode 4, which is again one of my favourite episodes! We've passed eighty reviews, guys! **_**Eighty fuckin' reviews**_**! It's incredible. I love you all so much! Amazing thanks to Beebopalula, Becca, skullcandy216, Liza and Gwenlynn for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Nine- GTA, Motherfuckers!**

"Good morning world, it's a brand new daaaay," I sang the next morning as I flitted around the flat in my red shorts-and-vest pyjamas, cleaning. I was in a good mood, a really good mood for once, for reasons unbeknown to me. Maybe it was to do with the fact Nathan and I were back together. Maybe it was because I hadn't died yesterday. Maybe it was because last night…actually, you don't need to know about that. At all.

Either way, I didn't actually care what the reasoning was. I was just happy, and that should be enough.

"What're you so happy about?" Nathan mumbled, coming out of the bedroom in his t-shirt and boxer shorts, his hair sticking up at all angles even more than usual and his eyes still half-glued together with sleep. It was clear he'd literally only just woken up.

"I punched you in the face last night," I quipped. "I've wanted to do that for a while."

"Funny," he said, his voice still scratchy from his slumber, collapsing on the sofa and turning on the TV. He yawned loudly and obviously.

"Poor baby," I said mockingly, going over and laying on top of him. "Did you not get enough sleepies last night?"

"It's not my fault you kept me up half the night," he muttered, putting his arms around my waist.

"I didn't keep you up half the night!" I protested. "Last night was your idea, not mine!"

"Potato, potarto," Nathan said with a smirk. "Either way, all your screamin' gave me one fucker of a headache."

"Do _not _mention anything like that in front of the others!" I exclaimed, feeling myself blush.

"Or what?" he challenged.

"Or you'll wake up tomorrow morning in hospital, breathing through a tube with your liver missing, 'kay?" I said sweetly, rolling off him and patting him on the leg.

"There's somethin' seriously wrong with you," he noted as he sat up and stretched.

"I really hope you're not only now working that out," I retorted. "The judge realised _that _little fact within five minutes of knowing me." I looked at the clock. "You might want to think about getting changed, by the way. We need to leave in forty-five minutes."

"What about you? You're just as underdressed as I am," he said, his eyes raking up and down my pyjama-clad body appreciatively.

"I really wish you wouldn't make that face when you look at me half-naked," I said. "You look kinda rapey. Besides, I'm not getting dressed yet because I'm going for a shower." I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss before grabbing a fresh towel from the airing cupboard and heading into the bathroom.

As the hot water cascaded down over me, I slipped into my favourite shower past-time: thinking. I thought about where mine and Nathan's relationship was going. It seemed relatively serious. At least, Nathan didn't act like such a dickhead. Sure, he was a dickhead, but at least he tried to be halfway serious with me.

We'd been together…what, nearly four weeks? It didn't sound like much, I know, but it felt like forever. In a good way, though. I was only young, and this was really the first proper relationship I'd ever had. Sure, I'd had a couple of boyfriends when I was in sixth form, but I'd never been particularly serious about them.

Maybe that's what made this relationship so different. I wouldn't have said I _loved _Nathan, not yet, but I knew that, given a bit more time, I'd be ready to make that step. We were going to have a baby together, for God's sake. Yes, I still remembered that little fact. God, that poor child…hell, poor _me_! I was the one who:

A) Had to suffer from the morning sickness, and the pain of carrying an eight-pound baby around in my womb,

B) Had to push the kid out, which is basically like pushing a football out of a lemon-sized hole, and

C) Try not to contract post-natal depression. My aunt Lana had gotten it when she had given birth to my cousin Ethan, back when I was eight, and I'd never seen anyone so low in my whole life. It had petrified me.

Yikes. Looking at it like that, pregnancy and childbirth suddenly didn't seem so shiny and exciting. If anything, it sounded fricking terrifying. But I also knew that I needed to have that baby for that picture to be taken. Like I had said before, if the picture wasn't taken, the space-time continuum would implode- literally- ceasing life as we knew it.

Ooh, what would we call her? Or him? I didn't want to call the baby an 'it', despite the fact he or she hadn't even been conceived yet. Well, probably. There were so many names I liked: Harley, Ivy, Selena and Valentina for a girl, Anakin, Devon and Robin for a boy. I also liked Sherlock and Benedict, but I had a feeling that the kid would have the piss ripped out of him if I called him either of those.

I wondered when it would happen. The conception, I meant. That picture hadn't been taken very far in the future. Future Simon had said so himself. Oh God, did that mean I'd have to like, jump Nathan every night? I wasn't sure I had the energy for that.

I shut off the shower and stepped out, wrapping myself in my pink towel as I did so. I shook out my damp hair, sending a cascade of water droplets down onto my shoulders, and padded my way out of the bathroom into the bedroom. Nathan had sprawled out on my bed, fully dressed, and had closed his eyes so that he looked like he'd fallen asleep again.

"Oi, twatface!" I said, thumping down on the bed next to him. "Move it, I need to get changed." Nathan's eyes snapped open, and when he caught sight of me in my towel, his facial features formed into that oh-so flattering pervert look (sarcasm. Note the sarcasm!).

"Hellooo gorgeous," he whistled.

"What have I said about the face?" I said, mock-warningly. "Don't make the face!"

"What, when you're lookin' like that?"

"Yeah, soaking wet and totally devoid of make-up and clothing. I look fucking fabulous."

"I've got no objections to the 'devoid of clothin'' thing you've got goin' on," he said with a grin, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me down on top of him. I giggled- maybe slightly high-pitched for me- as his mouth found mine and his hands pulled my towel away.

* * *

Huh. I hadn't been expecting _this _when I walked into the community centre. Actually, to be honest, I'd learnt to stop 'expecting' things during community service as there seemed to be some totally new shocker around the corner every other week. Today appeared to be no exception to that.

There was a newbie. Yep, a lovely new addition to our little community service posse. Nathan and I had wandered into the locker room hand-in-hand, thinking the day would be normal. Well, as normal as a day on our community service could be. Instead, we walked in one everyone staring at something. Or, to be more precise, someone. Someone dressed in the same God-awful jumpsuit we were about to put on.

The new person was a dude. He had cropped curly hair and a ratty little ponytail with beads fastened to the end of it, and he was wearing…oh God. Birkenstocks. Combine that with the psychedelic-print peace sign badge fastened to his lapel, and it was pretty obvious that this guy- whoever the fuck he was- was big on the whole 'caring for the environment' thing.

"Hey," he said almost pompously when he saw all of us gawping at him, a really annoying smile on his lips. More gawping from us followed, then the locker room door opened and the probation worker, who still hadn't told us his name, strolled in.

"Who's the new guy?" Curtis asked him.

The probation worker fixed him with his usual blank expression, before turning to the new kid. "What's your name again?"

New Kid's smile wavered slightly. His eyes flickered between the probation worker and the six of us gaping at him. "It's Ollie," he said, like it should have been obvious to the probation worker or something. _Nice try, kid. You'll be lucky if he remembers your name two minutes from now_, I thought.

"Right," the probation worker said, yawning slightly. "These are…some other young offenders." Boom. As if I needed any more confirmation that this twat really wasn't cut out for being a probation worker, there it was. He still hadn't bothered to learn any of our names after almost a month. "Right, he's gonna be doing this community service thing with you lot," he informed us like it wasn't clear.

Nathan, who had been chewing on the drawstring of his hoodie, spat out said drawstring and said disbelievingly, "Are you sayin' he's like a new member of the gang?!"

"Whatever," deadpanned the probation worker. "Now piss off and pick up some litter." He pushed his way through us and headed out the other door for the locker rooms.

New Kid- er, Ollie- smiled brightly at us as we continued to stare at him and said, a tad over-enthusiastically, "Hi!"

A seriously awkward silence followed. None of us knew what to say. Not even Nathan, which was a new one. The six of us hurriedly opened our lockers and changed into our jumpsuits at practically lightning speed. We then hotfooted it out of the locker rooms and into the main hall, huddling in the centre of the room like it was an American football game powwow.

"Whatever happens," Curtis hissed. "We can't let the new guy find out about our powers!"

"Wot do we do if 'e finds out?" whispered Kelly as the rest of us nodded in agreement.

"We kill him," said Simon, so seriously that we all turned to look at him, mouths agape. "I'm joking," he assured us, a small, unfamiliar smile on his face. Hm, another new one.

"Oh-ho, you're makin' jokes now?" said Nathan, getting up in Simon's face. "Excuse us. You're creepin' out of your weird little shell, I get that, good for you. But let's get one thing straight. _I'm _the funny guy around here!"

"Nathan!" I said dangerously, my eyes flashing. "Leave it! Look, either way, I think we're good on the newbie not finding out," I said to the others. "He doesn't exactly seem the brightest bulb in the socket, and that's coming from me."

"He's coming!" Alisha suddenly hissed, looking at the doors that led to the main corridor. Sure enough, there was the familiar _click _of the doors opening, as we all turned in a line to face him, Ollie sauntered through the door, that rapidly-becoming-irritating smile on his face.

"Wot did you get done for?" Kelly demanded of him as he got closer.

"I was arrested for vandalising a coal-fire power station," he said smugly, making me itch to slap him. "We were protesting against CO2 emissions." Jesus fucking Christ, did he honestly expect us to be _impressed _by that?

Little Ollie Twist here was standing in a room in which everyone had either been arrested for drugs, drink-driving, arson, stapling someone's hand to a desk/stealing pic n' mix, fighting or causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Sending this guy, with his bloody self-righteousness and 'caring for the environment' bullshit, to work with us was like sending a Year Three to hang out with a load of Year Elevens, IE- a bad idea.

Nathan displayed his discontentment at Ollie's revelation by making a noise that sounded like a cross between someone doing a shit and someone farting. We all giggled, and Ollie's smile faltered for about the fourth time in half an hour. However, he soon plastered it back on again and leaned forward slightly.

"Have any of you got one of these weird powers?" he asked. Woah! Sure as hell wasn't expecting him to ask that. And apparently neither had anyone else as we all spluttered various denials and renunciations at him, desperately trying to act surprised at the same time, which made Ollie say, "I'm only asking because I've got one." with a look on his face that made it blatantly obvious he thought he was special. A slight pause.

"Oh yeah, us too," said Nathan, in the kind of voice that showed he was determined not to be outshone by the hippie. We all turned to glare at him, and he looked round at us in perplexity before looking back at Ollie. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that."

"No. No you weren't," I muttered.

"What can you do?" Simon asked Ollie.

"I can teleport," Ollie said proudly, acting as though he was bequeathing to us the secret of how the Earth was made.

"Let's see ya do it, then," Kelly demanded.

Smile-falter number five of the day. Apparently Ollie hadn't been expecting us to not believe him. Jumped-up little twat. Still, he scrunched up his face in a grimace of concentration and twitched around a bit. He looked like he was constipated, but there was a sudden pseudo-flash kind of thing in the air, and Ollie vanished, leaving behind one of his sandals.

The six of us stared in amazement at the spot he'd been standing in. _Nice one_, I thought. He hadn't been bullshitting, then. Everyone seemed pretty astounded.

"Woah," said Nathan appreciatively. There was the sudden sound of someone clearing their throat behind us. We all turned around, and came face-to-face with Ollie, who was looking highly satisfied with himself.

"That was the biggest load of shit I've ever seen," I said expressionlessly.

"Yeah, ya coulda walked their quicker," agreed Kelly blankly.

"Sometimes I go further than that," Ollie said defensively.

"Well 'sometimes' isn't exactly imposing, is it?" I said harshly.

"That's really impressive," Alisha told him sarcastically.

"Yeah, I honestly thought somethin' more excitin' was gonna happen," concluded Nathan. And with that, the six of us turned on our heels and headed away from Ollie in the direction of the storage cupboard where the litter pickers were kept, leaving him discarded in the middle of the room.

"Oh, go choke on your Birkenstocks, you psilocybin-munching moron!" I muttered as we walked away.

* * *

What was it with the people on this estate just throwing their litter around?! It was like a giant Golem made of rubbish wandered around the estate at night, shitting out bits of old newspaper and old cans. The stuff was fucking multiplying!

I usually hated litter picking anyway, but today was made even worse by our new arrival. Ollie was so fucking _cheerful_. All the time! I'm all for positivity, I am, but there's a limit to how much positivity I can have on a Monday morning, and Ollie was vastly overstepping that limit.

And seriously. What was with all the compassion about the environment?! I was so tempted to grab the guy by the shoulders and scream, "NOBODY CARES!" in his face. I actually heard him saying how 'great' it was that we were wasting our time picking up used condoms and beer bottles filled with fermented piss.

I yawned slightly, and felt a set of arms suddenly wrap around my waist. "Hey baby," Nathan said, leaning his chin on the top of my head. The two of us were walking in sync- left step, right step- like we were one person. It probably looked really nonsensical to the others, but I found it quite cute that Nathan acted like this with me.

"'Baby'?" I repeated, rolling my eyes. "Because that's not mozzarella-cheesy at all, Nathan."

"What would you prefer then? Somethin' insultin'?" he demanded, but I could tell from his tone that he was joking. "'Cause I could have just as easily said 'what up, bitch'."

"No, no, 'baby' works," I said quickly, smiling, even though he couldn't see my face. "'Baby' is totally fine."

"That's what I thought," he said, spinning me around to face him and kissing me. Quite roughly, actually, considering there were five other people with us.

"Does all this get recycled?" I heard Ollie ask. Dear Christ, this kid needed a slap. Of course it didn't get fucking recycled!

"What's with this guy?" Curtis said suddenly. Nathan and I stopped kissing and turned around in time to see a man sprinting his way towards us. His face was flushed, and his eyes were huge and wild.

"He's fucking crazy!" the man shouted as he shoved his way past us and carried on running like his life depended on it.

"What the _fuck _was that about?" I said, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. My question was answered when there was the shriek of tires against concrete, and a bright orange sports car swerved around the corner and screeched to a stop a couple of metres away from us.

"D'you think he was talkin' about this fella?" asked Nathan. Smoke was wafting from under the car's tires, and the driver's door opened. A man got out of the car, dressed in some kind of Seventies-style sports jacket and matching trackies, with fingerless black leather driving gloves on his hands. He was also wearing a very vacant expression.

He stared at all of us intensely, then took a few steps forward. "Where's Conti?" he asked robotically.

"Oh that's him," Nathan replied without delay, gesturing at Simon with his litter picker. "He's a right Conti."

The man's hostile gaze shifted over to said shark-eyed boy, who now looked slightly perturbed.

"Did ya think I was gonna let it go?" the man asked Simon in that same mechanical tone. "I want my money."

"Give the man his money," Nathan prompted him, sounding faintly worried himself.

"Simon doesn't have your money!" I said loudly, trying to draw the man's attention away from him. However, I might as well of just remained silent, as the man totally ignored me.

Instead, the man moved his stare over to Kelly, who had just moved forward slightly. "Roxy?" he said monotonously. "So you're with him now?" Seriously, who was this guy? It was becoming rapidly obvious he'd escaped from the local nuthouse. And to think, I had planned on working there after Uni.

"I was still waiting for you at the church when the cops picked me up," the man continued in the same emotionless way.

"I'm not bein' funny mate, but you're actin' like a right narc," Kelly snapped at him.

"He's clearly suffering from some kind of mental illness," Ollie felt the need to chip in.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock," I spat at him. God, he was infuriating.

"I want my money," the robotic-sounding man repeated.

"We haven't _got _your money!" I shouted at him.

"Let me talk to him," Ollie said high-handedly, placing his litter picker and bin bag on the floor.

"Don't! Just leave it!" said Alisha, sounding panicked.

"It's okay," Ollie said in what I assumed was an attempt to reassure her, but just sounded really, really condescending. "I've had some training in conflict resolution."

"This should be entertaining," Nathan said almost gleefully.

"Nathan! Shut the fuck up!" I hissed. "This guy might be dangerous. Oi! New Kid!" I shouted. "Just walk away! It's not worth it!"

Jesus, was _everyone _ignoring me this morning?! Ollie totally blanked me as he wandered over to the man. "What's your name?" he asked in a tone similar to one used by parents to their toddlers. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hur-"

Ollie was abruptly cut off by the man pulling a gun out from his pocket and unloading a bullet into Ollie's forehead. Blood and brain matter rained down as the six of us shrieked in horror. For a few moments, we were all so shocked that none of us moved.

Then it hit home. HE SHOT HIM. HE FUCKING SHOT THE NEW KID. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! THIS PSYCHO HAD A FUCKING GUN!

I was the first to react again. I opened my mouth and screamed blue murder. The others turned and ran, everyone shrieking and screeching various 'fuck!'s and 'shit!'s. I couldn't do anything but stare at Ollie's corpse, stare at that perfectly circular bloody bullet hole in his forehead. Jesus, it was Gary all over again.

I felt a hand pull on mine, and suddenly I was being dragged along after the others, my hand trapped firmly in my boyfriend's, because we were running. And running. And running. We were running for our lives.

* * *

We only stopped running when we reached the roof of the community centre. We collapsed on the concrete of the roof, crushing our bodies down as low as we possibly could to avoid being seen over the edge. All six of us were gasping for breath, having run for God knows how long to get away from Mr Psycho.

We'd been through some weird shit over the past couple of months, but this scenario seemed to render all the others completely un-terrifying. I could feel tears spilling out from under my closed eyelids. That's how scared I was.

"Shit!" I sobbed, my voice cracking. "What the _fuck_ just happened?! I can't even…I don't even…I just…" I dissolved into silent sobs. I felt a hand cup my cheek briefly, then heard the sound of gravel being disturbed. My eyes snapped open and I turned onto my front to see what the noise was. Nathan was army-style crawling on his belly towards the edge of the roof. What the fuck was he doing?! He suddenly ducked his head down, and I was about to ask him what was going on, but Alisha interrupted me.

"He shot him!" she exclaimed shrilly. "He shot the new guy!"

"We should go back for 'im!" suggested Kelly, breathing heavily.

"He was hit in the head!" Curtis rationalised. "He's fucked!"

"He's lucky if any of his brain is left in his skull after that shot," I muttered, still looking at Nathan to make sure he didn't get shot. Oh no, wait. Immortality.

"Hey, no, it's okay!" he suddenly announced, still looking over the edge of the roof. "He's fine, he's over there!" He pointed at something over the side of the roof.

What the fuck? No. That was not possible. Ollie was dead. Nobody could survive a straight-shot through the brain. And in the highly unlikely situation that someone did, the person was either severely paralysed, or severely brain-damaged. In short, they sure as hell wouldn't be up and wandering around.

Curtis and I simultaneously started shuffling our way over to the edge where Nathan was lying. I scanned the area with my eyes about four times, and saw…absolutely sweet fuck all.

"There's nothing there," I said.

"Yeah, I don't see him," said Curtis.

"What?!" Nathan looked at us, then back down towards the bench by the lake. "Oh…then that must be his ghost. Which means he's not at all okay, on account of him bein' dead."

"Fantastic observation there, hun," I said, shaking my head. "'Not at all okay', I ask you." By this point, Kelly, Alisha and Simon had all crawled over and were looking around as well.

"This is messed op," said Kelly.

"Hey! Hey, hey, New Guy!" Nathan suddenly shouted, waving at the bench. "Sorry you got shot, man!" There was a small pause, then, "Hey fuck you!" he shouted indignantly, flipping the bird.

"What was that!?" said Curtis incredulously.

"He just got shot in the face, and you're insulting him?" chastised Alisha.

"He made an obscene gesture!" spluttered Nathan defensively. "I don't care if he's dead, there's no excuse for rudeness!"

"Hey, he has a point," I said fairly. "It's not like it's our fault he got shot."

"You should rewind time!" Simon suddenly piped up, looking at Curtis.

"You can save 'im!" added Kelly. Curtis looked slightly hesitant. "Go on then!" she pushed, sounding angry. Curtis stood up and went rigid, sucking in a deep breath as he did so. However, it soon became painfully obvious that Curtis was not going back in time at any point in the immediate future. A few of us made noises of judgemental irritation.

"Well I didn't know him!" Curtis defended himself. "I'm not feeling it!"

"Yeah, he was a bit of a twat," Nathan said in agreement.

"Yeah, he was," I agreed. "On the plus side, now the ashes of his corpse can be made into green-friendly fertiliser for the Earth he loved so much."

"There's somefin' wrong wiv you two!" exclaimed Kelly. I snorted slightly. _Yeah, because it's not the first time I've been told that today._

* * *

"_One, twenty-one guns.  
Lay down your arms,  
Give up the fight,  
One, twenty-one guns."  
_**-Green Day, "21 Guns"**

* * *

**A/N- Guys. Guys. Guys. You're awesome. I've already said that I know, but now I feel the need to respond to the reviews that were so badly needed in my time of…well, need.**

**Beebopalula: I'm so glad you're finding the story funny, and I hope I continue to entertain you! **

**Becca : What can I say? Your review made me crack the biggest smile I've had in a while. Your reviews are always so lovely! Also, high-five to a fellow Cumberbitch and Sherlockian! (I slipped in a little fangirl connection again, especially for you! ;] Hope you spotted it!)**

**skullcandy216: Thank you so much for the good luck! They're going well, my last three are on Friday! (Two maths and an RS, God help me!) I'm really happy you're enjoying the story!**

**Liza: Don't worry about going off topic, I found that analogy hilarious! I'm so pleased you have such a 'burning passion' for my story! I hope I continue to fuel that passion!**

**Gwenlynn: We all know Nathan needs a good punch every now and again, so I figured 'let's stick one in'. Georgia wasn't exactly going to take those last couple of days lightly, was she? I'm so happy you like the story!**

**So now that's out of the way, I'll just insert the usual 'Review please!' 'You're all splendid!' 'Blah blah blah!' 'Usual crap LittleGee spouts out!' But it's true. You **_**are**_** all splendid. Xx Gee xX**

**Chapter title reference:  
A line from **_**Resident Evil: Apocalypse**_**, said by the hilarious LJ.**

**Other references:  
****"****Go choke on your Birkenstocks, you psilocybin-munching moron!****" is from **_**Lollipop Chainsaw**_**.**


	30. Game Glitch

**A/N- I'M OFFICIALLY DONE WITH MY GCSEs! CAN I GET A HIGH-FIVE OVER HERE! *clears throat* Sorry about that. I'm just so fucking happy! I never have to do Maths or Science or bloody French for the rest of my life! Thanks super muchly to cecld16, Beebopalula, Jasmine, Gwenlynn, and Becca for reviewing!**

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A SLIGHT SPOILER TO **_**THE DARK KNIGHT RISES **_**TOWARDS THE END.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty- Game Glitch**

Kelly thought there was something wrong with us. Hell, I _knew _there was something wrong with me and Nathan. I was mentally unstable, after all. If that didn't say 'something wrong with me' I didn't know what did. Nathan had probably just been dropped on his head a few times as a baby, or had lead paint on the bars of his cot. One or the other.

"Aw, come on, seriously?! He was never gonna fit in!" Nathan exclaimed defensively. "What with all the carin' about the environment and that. Better him than me."

"Wow, really?" I said, facepalming. Was he actually being serious? Sadly, I had come to realise that half the time, whatever came out of Nathan's mouth was him generally believing what was being said.

"You're immortal!" Simon reminded him.

"Better him than one of you," Nathan rearticulated, looking at me in particular. _I'm fine_, I mouthed to him, but then I noticed something. Red blood was streaked all over Nathan's face, and was matting in his curls. How had I only just noticed this? I stood up quickly, and the others all followed suit.

As I looked at everyone, I noticed each of them also had Ollie's blood and brains splattered all over their faces and necks. Which meant…oh no. I gingerly put a hand to my cheek, and felt semi-dried blood sticking to my skin in amongst the half-dried tears.

"Oh my God," I whimpered. "Oh my God. There's blood on my face." I then felt something fleshy that was stuck just under my eye. "And brain. There is blood and brain congealing on my face. I can't cope with this. I'm gonna be sick. Get it off me, get it off me, FUCKING GET IT OFF ME!" I was working my way into hysterical-mode. I started hyperventilating. "Why is nobody helping me?! Get this blood off me before I start screaming and puking!" Oh God, I was crying again.

"Jesus, what's with you?!" Nathan sounded quite worried.

"I'm covered in blood and brain! I look like something out of a horror movie! I can't deal with blood, you know that!" My breathing was rapid and was hitching in throat. Any second now I was either going to vomit or pass out. Maybe both.

"She's going into hysterics," Alisha said. "Slap her." Before I could even comprehend what was happening, I felt a harsh _whack _on my right cheek.

"OW!" I shrieked, aiming a kick at Nathan's leg. "Bastard! That fucking hurt!"

"Well it was that or watch my girlfriend pass out from lack of oxygen!" he retorted.

"Well it hurt," I repeated, but only half-heartedly. "I bruise like a fucking peach. You'll be lucky if my face doesn't turn black!"

"Exaggeratin'," Nathan said in a sing-song voice, but he leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. "You alright now?"

"The sooner we get away from here and back to mine where I can shower, the more alright I'll be," I answered. I turned abruptly on my heel and headed down the stairs to the locker rooms. I heard the others coming after me, and heard Simon and Curtis say something about going to tell the probation worker what had happened. Good, better that than the police randomly turning up and accusing all of us of Ollie's murder.

"Urgh!" I exclaimed when I looked at myself in the mirror. "It's even worse than I thought it was!" Had I gotten the full brunt of the brain splatters or something?! I looked like I'd just crawled out of a grave and started munching on the nearest human's brain. Blood had splashed over my cheeks like some sickening form of blusher. A few bits of fleshy pink brain were smeared haphazardly on my face as well. Blood was also congealing in my hair, sticking bits of it into chunks like dreadlocks.

I let out a squeak of disgust and quickly moved away from the mirror, wrenching open my locker and pulling off my bloodstained jumpsuit. Never before had I been so grateful to see a pair of clean denim shorts and a black t-shirt with _Escape From Arkham City Is Impossible, Catwoman _emblazoned along the chest in red. I pulled them on in a hurry, then grabbed a packet of make-up wipes from the top shelf of my locker, using a couple to scrub the hardened blood off my face.

I couldn't do anything about my hair though, so I scraped it back into a very dishevelled ponytail, my fringe flopping stickily over my eyebrows, and quickly pulled on my black hoodie, pulling the hood up to cover the worst of my bloody tresses.

"Nathan, are you coming back to mine?" I asked him,

"Sure. I've got nothin' better to do," he replied, grinning at me.

"Prick," I said, slapping him lightly on the arm. "Come on then. I need a shower, in the worst way."

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, I was completely de-blooded, sitting curled up on my sofa in my Wonder Woman dressing gown with my wet hair in a towel, half-watching _Scream _on DVD and half-listening to the sound of Nathan taking a shower in the next room.

A packet of bandages was lying on the coffee table in front of me. It turned out that when Nathan had grabbed my hand to help me run from the psycho, my power had kicked in because I was scared. I'd ended up burning most of Nathan's left hand and he had only just told me, on the way back to the flat. I'd had to quickly run his hand under cold water for ten minutes and had bandaged it up best I could.

My head was reeling, to be perfectly honest. The day had started out so well. Hell, I was even willing to say it had started off relatively normally. But as usual, some randomer had to waltz in and blow that illusion sky-high. Literally, in this case.

I wasn't going to pretend I was sad Ollie had died, because I honestly wasn't. The kid had been almost as irritating as Lola. His death, however, had unnerved me slightly. Why hadn't any of us seen it coming? That psychotic guy was so obviously unhinged, it should have been clear he was a murderer on top of everything else. _Why _hadn't we tried to stop him?!

I was being harsh. We couldn't have stopped him. None of us knew what was going to happen…but wait. Someone did. Someone _did _know. There was one person who could have stopped him.

Future Simon had known. He _knew _what was going to happen- he'd already lived it! Why hadn't _he _done anything about it?! I stood up suddenly, shaking my head. I needed answers, goddamn it! Knowing that Simon was out there and knew what was happening and what was going to happen was driving me crazy, especially because I _didn't _know!

I hurried into the bedroom and grabbed a scarlet lacy bra and matching knickers from a draw, and seized my discarded shorts and t-shirt from the bed, pulling them all on in a rush. I grabbed a notebook from my bedside table and scribbled a hasty note- _Babe, have gone for a walk. Need to clear my head. Won't be long. G xxx_- which I ripped out and pinned to the bedroom door where Nathan would clearly see it. Finally, I pulled on a pair of red Converse and quietly exited the flat, closing the door quietly behind me.

It didn't take me long to retake the route from my flat to Future Simon's apartment-type-Batcave thingy; it only took about twenty minutes. I paced around in front of the metal lift door for about five minutes before finally thinking 'fuck it' and wrenching the lift open, stepping inside and pressing the UP button before I could change my mind.

The lift whirred as it wheeled its way up to the apartment. I tapped my foot impatiently, willing the lift to go faster. But no. If anything, it felt like the lift was going even slower. But it eventually slowed to a stop, and I reached out and jerking the door to the side.

Simon was sitting on his bed, dressed in green trackies and a black vest that showcased some rather impressive muscles. Holy damn, he was actually quite hot. Not that I should have been thinking that, since I had a boyfriend and this Simon was still technically my best friend. He looked quite surprised to see me.

"You fucking knew!" I shouted at him before he even had a chance to say anything. "Didn't you?! You fucking knew Ollie was gonna get shot and you just let it happen! What the fuck happened to coming back and saving us?! You didn't fucking save him, did you!"

"Hello to you too, Georgia," he said, getting up and walking over to me. I was so shocked that he hadn't answered me that I flung out my hand and slapped him across the face- hard. "Um, ow?"

"You're lucky I didn't straight-out punch you! Don't fucking joke about this, Simon! He's dead! The new kid is now lying in a morgue somewhere with a bullet hole in his brain! _Why didn't you save him_?"

"I can't save everyone," he replied frankly, holding a hand over his cheek, which had turned a brilliant shade of red.

"Well that's fucking bullshit," I snarled. "You saved me from that mugger! You saved Nathan from those fucking Virtue dickheads! You saved Curtis from Psycho Lucy! Why couldn't you fucking save Ollie!?"

"If I had saved Ollie, then somebody else would have died," he answered seriously.

"Yeah, well, I'd rather that than the emotional scarring I now have!" I spat at him. "I'm even more messed up than I was before! D'you know why my hair's wet? Because I just had to wash the new kid's blood and brain substance out of it! If you'd've turned up doing your Dark Knight-slash-Iron Man shit, I'd've had the great fortune of _not _having to unclog bits of cerebral cortex from my shower drain."

"I'm sorry, I am," Simon said sincerely. "But if I had saved Ollie, then it would have altered what was supposed to happen. I've already lived this day, remember; I knew I wasn't supposed to save him."

"Urgh, damn your paradox-y, time-altering, totally-illogical-but-completely-logical-at-the-sa me-time mumbo-jumbo," I muttered in annoyance. "Okay, fine, I guess I can't really be pissed off with you, then."

"No, not really," Simon agreed with a smirk that was still unfamiliar to me.

"Goddamn you, Simon! You know I hate it when I can't be angry with someone, because it means I can't hit them!"

"I don't know, that backhand of yours seemed pretty angry," he said, pointing at the livid red mark on his cheek.

"Still making jokes," I said, smiling faintly. After getting all that pent-up stress and need for shouting out of my system, I now felt a bit deflated. "Why is all this happening, Simon? Why us?"

"I still don't know," he said quietly, not meeting my eye. "I don't think we'll ever really know, either."

"It gets better though, right?" I mumbled. "Please say right. I can't take much more of this dying and murdering and blood and never knowing if I'm going to live through the next week. I can't." Overcome with emotions that seemed to have suddenly spawned from the past stress of the day, I closed the small gap between Simon and I by putting my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. I needed to learn to keep my feelings in, really, instead of letting them get the better of me in the form of these spontaneous outbursts of affection.

"I should go," I said after releasing him. "I told Nathan I was going for a walk. I've been gone over forty-five minutes, and he knows I hate exercise. He'll start getting suspicious."

"Okay then," Simon replied, looking at the watch on his wrist. "Good timing, there's something I need to do in ten minutes."

"Alright, Mr Secretive," I mocked. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye," he said simply, looking at the clocks on the wall. One of them was counting down, and it would run out some time in two days. It was the final clock.

* * *

Well, I couldn't pretend I hadn't been expecting this. To be honest, I was amazed it had taken twenty-four hours for the police to get involved. I'd been half expecting there to be a knock on the front door at midnight the night before with the stereotypical shout of, "Open up! This is the police!"

When that didn't happen, I knew it would only be a matter of time before we were dragged out of community service and shoved into the probation office to be told that we were either:

A) Getting arrested for a murder that (for a change) we hadn't actually committed, or,

B) Having to tell one of those eyewitness account thingmahoosits.

Luckily for us, it was that last one.

"The police want witness statements off all of you," the probation worker informed us, not sounding the least bit cut up by what had happened. "So try not to screw it up, yeah? 'Cause I don't need them on my back. D'you think you can manage that?" When none of us bothered to reply to him, he simply said, "Good." and turned away from us.

"Is that it?!" demanded Kelly after a couple of seconds of disbelieving silence.

"Aren't you even gonna pretend to be a little bit sad!?" tacked on Alisha.

"Someone's _died_!" I added as a sort of conclusion.

The probation worker spun back around to face us. "D'you know how much paperwork's involved when someone gets shot doing community service?!" he asked us protectively- protective of himself. "I've got health and safety forms coming out of my arse over here!" He gestured vacantly at his desk.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that's a great comfort to his parents," I said sarcastically. "Knowing that their son's probation worker is really working overtime to catch the fucking psychopath that shot their kid."

"I've got other stuff to do with my life than sit around filling in bloody forms!" the probation worker retorted. "So sure. Yeah. We're all very sad. So there it is."

"For fuck sake," I muttered under my breath. All of us made to leave the office, when Nathan suddenly threw out his arm to stop us.

"It's a cruel, senseless waste," he began. _Oh God, here we go_, I thought, knowing what was coming; another Nathan Young Production. "A young man, taken from us in his prime, leavin' us to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives, knowin' that he's gone forever."

"Nathan, what are you doing?" I hissed in his ear, but he lightly elbowed me in a way to tell me to shut up.

"So maybe," he continued. "We should have the rest of the week off." Right. Of course. I knew there would be an ulterior motive behind Nathan's speech of remorse. "Y'know, to cry and grieve, and remember our dear friend…" Nathan trailed off, his mouth forming an 'O' as he made a couple of croaky stuttering noises. The probation worker looked at him in a mixture of amusement, irritation and expectancy as he waited for Nathan to supply the name we all knew he had completely forgotten.

Nathan snapped his fingers at Simon, who made a slight sighing noise and told him, "Ollie."

"Ollie!" Nathan said loudly and obviously. "Dear, beautiful Ollie!"

The probation worker stared at Nathan impassively for a few moments, before saying plainly, "Fuck off and go talk to the police. And when you're done with that, fuck off and cover up the graffiti under the underpass."

* * *

I absolutely, without a doubt, one hundred percent _hated _talking to people of authority. I didn't care who it was- my parents, my head teacher, a policeman, a judge- I didn't take shit from anyone. Well not any more, anyway. Not since I was fifteen had I cared what people said to me.

When my parents had sat me down to talk about me breaking curfew for the sixth time in two weeks, I'd replied with, "Since when do you give a fuck? The last time I broke curfew you locked me out of the house all night! I was prime target for practically every fucking rapist out here, you stupid twats!"

When my old head teacher, Mrs Gilbrook, had told me if I was ever caught smoking in the first-floor girls toilets again then I'd be suspended for a week. I'd replied to that with, "What's the point? If I'm not smoking in the toilets then I'm smoking on the field. Think it through, Miss."

When that police officer had restrained me in the park to stop me completely killing Lola, I'd told him to, "Get your fucking hands off me, you dickhead! I'll fucking sue!" which, in retrospect, is probably the reason I ended up getting handcuffed and dragged into a cop car.

When the judge had asked me what I pleaded, I answered, "Guilty, your honour. To be perfectly honest, it would be stupid not to. There were witnesses. Hell, I'm even half-proud of what I did, your honour. So there you have it. Case dismissed."

Looking back on all of that, it really was no surprise that I ended up in sticky situations the way I seemed to have such a knack for getting myself into. So now, as the police officer in front of me scrutinized my face with her weirdly light brown eyes, I knew I had to keep my gob shut and my eyes down so I didn't get us into any more trouble.

I was the last person asked in for my statement. The policewoman asked all the generic questions: _In your own words, can you tell me exactly what happened yesterday morning at ten forty-five AM? _and _How did the events of yesterday morning effect you? Did you experience nausea? Loss of appetite? Trouble sleeping? _and _What did the person responsible for Oliver's murder look like, appearance-wise?_

I answered honestly, truthfully and without a hint of attitude. I was so proud of myself, especially since I even managed to say, "Have a good day, Officer," without tacking on some kind of sarcastic remark. Maybe it was a sign that I was finally becoming a bit more mature.

Nathan, however, was evidently not going to be growing up anytime soon. He complained about the probation worker not giving us time off before he went in to give his statement, he was moaning about the policewoman not being sympathetic when he claimed to have post-traumatic stress from the day before the whole time we were gathering paint cans and paintbrushes from the storage unit, he was whining about having too much stuff to carry as we made our way to the underpass, then switched back to whinging about the probation worker again as we sloshed white paint over the spray-painted penises on the underpass walls.

"Heartless bastard," he grumbled for what must have been the sixth time at least.

"Nathan, _please _just shut up," I exclaimed exasperatedly, flicking some paint at him. "You're giving me a migraine."

"We should do something!" Simon suddenly cut in. When we all looked at him in confusion, he elaborated, "About the guy who shot Ollie!"

"Er, no, bad call!" I said, slightly shocked. Since when did Simon want to get involved in anything like this? "He likes his murdering!"

"So you're talkin' about steppin' up to the plate and takin' him down?" demanded Nathan, brandishing his paint roller in Simon's face, accidentally brushing white paint on my back as he did so. _Nice one_. "I really don't see that happenin'," he added disparagingly.

"Nah, he's right!" Alisha said unexpectedly, and I actually dropped my paintbrush in surprise. Hold the motherfucking phone. When did Alisha ever agree with anything Simon said?! Like, _ever_?!

"Since when did you want to get involved in anything like this?" Curtis asked her incredulously.

"Er, maybe since I got someone's brains blown out all over my face!" she retorted heatedly.

"If we go op against 'im one of _os _is gonna get our brains blown out!" Kelly said bluntly.

"And that sounds fucking painful," I interjected.

"We can't just pretend it didn't happen!" Simon said fervently, looking at me to agree with him, but I just shook my head no. I really wasn't up for playing Supergirl and telling Mr Grand Theft Auto Cosplayer to stop shooting people.

"Hey, I do that all the time!" replied Nathan. "It's like that fella in the Bible, the Good Samaritan? Walk on by?"

Oh, for fuck sake. "Sweetie, don't talk out loud, you lower the IQ of the whole street," I said with a sigh, patting him patronizingly on the arm. Everyone else just shook their heads at his sheer stupidity.

"So, how're you gonna feel if we do nothing and then we read in the papers that he shot someone else?!" Alisha asked hotly.

"Hey, I don't read the papers," Nathan said, like it finalised the matter.

"Except for Page Three," I said mockingly.

"Alright," Curtis said angrily, looking between Alisha and Simon. "So what are you two gonna do when you find this guy and he sticks a gun to your head?" Simon and Alisha both looked down at the ground, making it obvious they had no clue. "I'm glad you've got it all figured out," he continued, looking specifically at Alisha. "There's no way you're getting involved in this!" _No, no! Wrong thing to say to a girl!_

"Er, since when did you tell me what I can and can't do?!" Alisha demanded, sounding thoroughly pissed off now.

"Since I care about whether you die or not!" Curtis shouted back. "Have you forgotten about that?"

"Okay, guys, come on, seriously," Nathan interrupted their spat. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we're lazy and incompetent. We're practically handicapped! Okay, leave it to the police! They get paid to get shot!"

"I never thought I'd say this but, he's talking sense," agreed Curtis.

"_Thank you_," he said like it was about time someone agreed with him. "And hey, I'm already doin' my bit to fight crime! Bosh!" He slapped his paintbrush down over the last bit of graffiti he was covering.

After that, everyone worked in near silence, other than the odd, "Can you pass me that paint can?" or "Fuck, there's paint on my shoe!" or "Is there a spare paintbrush?" or "Nathan, you put paint in my hair one more time and I will cut your dick off in your sleep with a blunt, rusty razor."

I didn't want Simon and Alisha thinking it was safe to go after that guy, because it wasn't. I was scared of him, whoever he was; I had to admit it. I was scared that one day, I'd walk round the corner and he'd be there, a gun pointed at my forehead and a bullet erupting from the end of it. I hated fear, even more since I got this fucking power. Fear was dangerous. Fear could get people killed just as much as courage could.

* * *

"I want to get home, and I want to get home quickly!" I told Nathan as I tugged my red-and-black diamond print shirt over my head in the locker room. I slammed my locker shut and grabbed his hand, dragging him out the door. "Come on."

"Jesus, where's the fuckin' fire?"

"Nowhere, I just don't like the idea of being out on the streets with that lunatic still on the loose. Believe it or not, I like my forehead without bullet holes in it. I've already been shot once- er, technically- and I am in no hurry to repeat that."

The estate was eerily quiet as we practically power walked back to my flat, not to say that was any different to how it usually was around this time during the week. I could see Curtis and Alisha wandering off together in the distance. I wondered if they were working things out, because earlier it had seemed like they were having some serious problems.

Back at the flat, Nathan wandered into the living room and started rifling through my DVD collection, and I headed into the bathroom to bathe and get the paint off my face and out of my hair. Urgh, it was coming out all over my hands as I massaged in my grape shampoo. This was why I hated manual labour!

From the living room, I heard the opening of _The Dark Knight Rises _start up on the TV, meaning Nathan had finally decided what he wanted to watch. It also got me thinking about Future Simon. What had that final clock in his apartment been counting down to? Hell, why was there only one clock left? This was one of the reasons I really wished I hadn't found out who the guy in the mask was. I had too many questions floating around in my tiny little brain.

What was going to happen? Why was there only one clock left? Was it because he knew he only needed to help us one last time? Was he ever going to go back to the future? What was the reason behind him coming back in time in the first place, because I knew it wasn't just to save us.

Urgh, my brain couldn't handle this! The poor thing could barely process two plus two without giving me a headache, so complications of this magnitude was enough to make my brain start bleeding and bubbling.

I climbed out of the bath and drained the water, towelling myself off quickly and pulling on the pair of Green Lantern pyjamas I'd left heating up on the bathroom radiator. I swore almost all the pyjamas I owned were themed around some kind of superhero.

Wanting to be distracted, I curled up on the sofa next to Nathan, who put his arm tight around my shoulders as I leaned my head on his shoulder. The two of us had come a long way, really, since we first met all those weeks ago. He'd called me Jugs, I'd retaliated by calling him a twat. I'd punched, hit and kicked him more times than I cared to remember. But those names had now changed to baby and sweetheart. Instead of punching and kicking him, I kissed and hugged him. And I was happy now. Properly happy for the first time in…months, really.

But all these happy feelings suddenly drained out of me a couple of hours later as the movie was drawing to its climax. It was as I watched Batman fly the atomic bomb out over Gotham Bay that something occurred to me. Batman was sacrificing himself to save Gotham City. Bruce Wayne had travelled all the way back to Gotham from the hole-in-the-ground prison Bane had dumped him in to save the city, knowing that doing so would get him killed.

The final clock was counting down on Future Simon's wall. It was counting down his last hours. He had come back to the past knowing that he was going to die.

* * *

"_And the reign will kill us all,  
We throw ourselves against the wall.  
'Cause no one else can see,  
The preservation of the martyr in me."  
_**-Slipknot, "Psychosocial"**

* * *

**A/N- I really don't know what's going on. One minute I'm all 'updating every other day! Wahey!' and then I'm all 'urgh, my story sucks, everything's terrible, waah, waah, waah' to being like, 'okay, so I'm feeling confident in my writing again, but the words won't come that easily.' SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN MY HEAD?! *coughs* Now that my excuse for why I haven't updated in over a week is done and dusted, I'm just gonna say that now I'm on study leave/summer holiday till September (not sure if that's a blessing or a curse for cabin fever) I'll be able to update a lot more often, I hope. So yeah. Review, review, review guys! You don't know how happy I get when I see the FanFiction folder in my inbox has new emails in it! Mwah! Xx Gee xX**

**References:**

"**I need a shower, in the worst way" is from the TV show **_**Teen Titans**_**, said by Raven (who is voiced by the amazing Tara Strong).**

**The t-shirt slogan **_**Escape From Arkham City Is Impossible, Catwoman **_**is said by Hugo Strange in the Catwoman missions game over screen for **_**Batman: Arkham City**_**.**

"**Er, no, bad call! He likes his…" is said by Tony Stark in **_**Avengers Assemble**_**.**

"**Don****'****t talk out loud, you lower the IQ of the whole street****"**** is from the **_**Sherlock **_**episode **_**A Study In Pink**_**, and is said, obviously, by Sherlock Holmes.**


	31. Game Over

**A/N- Right, so this chapter is only slightly longer than usual (note the sarcasm. This chapter is fucking massive for a change)! Mahoosive thanks to annik92, Beebopalula, Gwenlynn and Becca for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-One- Game Over**

I woke up the next morning very tired with my face pressed into a damp pillow. At first I was totally disgusted, thinking I'd drooled everywhere. Then I touched my cheeks, and they were wet as well. I realised I'd been crying in my sleep. Well thank God Nathan had gone back to the community centre at midnight last night rather than staying over. It would have been hard to explain why I was covered in tears at half past seven in the morning.

Last night's revelation had left me floored. Though I'd technically only known the Superhoodie-Simon a couple of weeks (if that), it felt like it was my Simon- the present Simon- that was going to die. It basically was, when I thought about it. But I didn't _want _to think about it. Thinking about Simon dying was almost as depressing as…me dying. No, that was selfish. Almost as depressing as Charlie dying. But today was the day. The day that final clock would time down to zero. Why, _why _did he have to die?

I really couldn't be bothered with community service today. I just wanted to crawl onto the sofa with my duvet, my laptop, a tube of Pringles and _The Other Boleyn Girl _on DVD. But no. If I skipped community service I'd probably get done for breaching the terms of my probation or something.

And it was with that less-than-delightful thought that I dragged myself out of the warmth and comfort of my double bed and into the bathroom, where I plunged my head into a sink filled with cold water. _Holy Jesus_. Okay, so now I was awake. And very, very wet.

I dried my face and applied my foundation and eyeliner quickly, not bothering to remove yesterday's eyeliner; instead, I just made today's thick enough to cover it. The slightly unfortunate after-effect was that I now looked even more like an emo than usual. But hey-ho, I figured I may as well complete the look with a pair of ripped tartan skinny jeans, a tight black low-cut vest, a black leather jacket and my black Doc Martens. I looked pretty good, I had to say. It was my kick-ass look.

I grabbed a cereal bar and shoved it in my Joker messenger bag, and a quick check of the time told me it was time to leave. As I made my way in the direction of the community centre, I saw Kelly walking ahead of me.

"Kelly!" I shouted. "Oi! Kelly!"

She turned around, looking around until she noticed me waving at her. "Awight, Georgia?" she asked as I hurried to catch up with her.

"Yeah, not too bad, you?" I said slightly breathlessly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "Why're ya dressed like you're goin' to a fockin' Slipknot concert or somefin'?"

"I had a little make-up mishap this morning, so I figured I'd dress to suit the style," I answered. "And hey! Slipknot is a great band!"

"I didn't know ya liked listenin' to stoff like that," Kelly said, sounding surprised. "I always fort ya were one of them girls that listened to stoff like Justin Bieber."

"You have _got _to be fucking kidding me," I said, raising my eyebrow. "I can't fucking stand Justin Bieber! Nope, I'm a Paramore, Halestorm and Slipknot girl! You know," I cleared my throat and started singing _Before I Forget_. "Stapled shut, inside an outside world, and I'm sealed in tight, bizarre but right at home. I'm claustrophobic, closing in, and I'm catastrophic."

"Right. Wotever," she said, looking at me like was a freak. "Why aren't ya wiv Nathan?"

"Oh, he didn't stay at mine last night. He buggered off at about twelve-ish."

"I fort da two of ya were livin' together?"

"What? No! We've only been together for a month; that's way too early to move in together!" I said as we started descending some stairs to one of the lower levels of the estate. But even as I said it, I wondered if that was entirely true. Nathan spent practically every day at my flat, other than the odd nights he did go back to the community centre to change clothes and whatever. Maybe it would be easier to ask him to move in with me. But there was also the danger of spending _too _much time together. I didn't want us to end up as one of those couples that spent so much time together that they ended up getting bored of each other.

Kelly was about to reply, but she got distracted by something as we stepped off the stairs. "Alisha!" she suddenly called. I followed Kelly's gaze and saw Alisha at the end of it, who was slowing down to wait for us.

"Hey," she said, once we'd reached her.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, picking up on her slightly dampened tone.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said simply.

"Bullshit," I said bluntly. "You sound different. What's wrong? Spill it- now."

"Okay. Before you hear me thinking it," she addressed to Kelly before looking between the two of us. "I'll just tell you." She paused for a second. "Me and Curtis ended it last night."

"No way!" I tried to act surprised, but to be honest I wasn't _that _shocked.

"Yeah. It was kinda obvious it was coming though," she said, not sounding particularly cut up about it.

"Are ya awight?" Kelly asked her.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm fine," Alisha answered, like it almost surprised her.

"If that was me, I'd be like, all cryin' me eyes out and shit," Kelly said. Alisha laughed quietly, and I opened my mouth to say how gutted I'd be if it was me, but I was abruptly cut off by the sound of rubber screeching against tarmac. All three of us turned simultaneously, and were confronted with the sight of Psycho in his sports car about fifty metres behind us.

"Shit!" I shouted.

"Fuck!" shrieked Alisha at the same time Kelly instructed, "Run!"

We took off into a sprint, the soles of our shoes thudding against the pavements almost ominously. I'd never been so grateful for a decision to wear my boots over my high heels . We could hear the car getting closer, so we sharply turned left up a flight of stairs before he could run us over, but we kept running anyway. We thundered along the walkway and down the stairs at the opposite side, the three of us panting deeply.

We thought we'd lost him, and we slowed our pace slightly. But as we emerged from one of the archways, he was there, waiting for us.

"Motherfucker!" I screamed at the car, but Kelly grabbed hold of my arm and yanked me along after her and Alisha. We came to a fork in the road at the top of the street, and it accidentally split us up- Kelly going left and Alisha and I turning right. Psycho turned after us and, thank God, Alisha and I managed to duck into a red doorway that was far too small for Psycho's car to fit through.

The two of us leaned heavily against the walls, gasping for breath. It took a few minutes for either of us to even regain the ability to gasp out more than one syllable at each other. As we slowed our breathing rate, we watched as Psycho came back up the road and parked his car a little ahead of the warehouse entryway we were hiding in. Fuck! He was coming back for us! We were dead. We were so DEAD.

Luckily, thank fuck, Psycho walked straight past mine and Alisha's hidey-hole.

"We need…to go!" gasped Alisha. "Quickly! While he's…gone!"

"No!" I panted. "What…about…Kelly? Urgh. I think…I'm having a…heart attack!"

"We'll wait until…he comes back then!" suggested Alisha. "Then…we run…"

"No!" I interrupted. "No…more…mother…fucking…running!"

"Well what…do you…wanna do!?"

"Wait till…he comes for…the car! He'll leave and…we can run!"

So we waited. We waited for another fifteen minutes until we heard the sound of trainers squeaking against the pavement. _It's him_, I mouthed to Alisha, who nodded. I held up five fingers, indicating we should wait that amount of time before we made a run for it.

But when Psycho appeared in eyeshot, we noticed that he wasn't alone. He was carrying Kelly's unconscious form in his arms. Even from this distance, I could see the blood splattered around her nose and dribbling onto her grey hoodie. _Fuck_. What had he done to her!?

Alisha and I seemed to have the same thought at the same time, as both of us bolted from our hiding spot at exactly the same time, both of us shouting, "Kelly!" as he laid her down in the passenger seat of the sports car.

"Please, dude, just leave Kelly alone!" I begged him. "She's done nothing to you! Please, just let her go!" I took a step forward, then hastily backtracked as Psycho pulled a gun from the waistband of his trousers and pointed it at me at point-blank range.

"You tell Conti, I want my money," he said robotically.

"There _is _no Conti!" Alisha cried, sounding on the verge of tears. "There's no Conti, there's no money! Please! Just let her go!"

"Tell Conti to bring my hundred grand to the warehouse on Tipton Street," Psycho continued as if Alisha hadn't spoken. And with that, he got into the car, still pointing his gun at us, before slamming the driver's door shut and speeding away so hard his tyres left skid marks in the road.

"Kelly!" Alisha shouted, taking a few steps towards the disappearing car. "Kelly!"

"There's a warehouse on Tipton Street?" I said, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah. No idea what the fuck it's for though," replied Alisha, still staring after the now-vanished sports car.

"We need to get the boys," I said suddenly, an idea striking me. "Maybe…I dunno, maybe they'll have some idea as to what the fuck we should do about that guy!" I gestured with my arm after Psycho.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Alisha said assentingly, sniffing slightly. "Good idea! We've gotta be quick though! We need to get her back before that fucking prick hurts her!"

* * *

Running about half a mile after running for your life is never, ever, _ever _a good idea. And yet, Alisha and I still decided it would be a good idea to do just that so we'd reach the community centre before ten o'clock. We burst through the back doors of the community centre breathing heavily, only to walk in on Simon glaring at the back of Nathan's head.

"Well the bad news is, they've fixed the vendin' machine," Nathan informed us.

"Yeah, yeah, that's really not important!" I snapped, earning me an affronted look from my boyfriend.

"The guy with the red car and the gun!" burst out Alisha.

"We were just talkin' about him," said Nathan, taking a sip from his can of Coke.

"He's fucking got Kelly!" I exclaimed.

"Oh Jesus! He's gonna shoot her, and he's gonna kill her!" Nathan shouted fearfully. "I told ya he was dangerous! Alright, everybody calm down! And think. Think. And keep calm." He locked his eyes on Simon, then suddenly threw himself at the poor boy, grabbing Simon's collar. "Do somethin', ya little freak!"

"Nathan, get off him!" I shouted, grabbing hold of his collarbone in an attempt at the Vulcan death grip. I failed, yes, but I did succeed in extracting him from Simon.

"CONTI!" Psycho's voice rang through the corridor, making all of us freeze in fear.

"Oh my God," I whimpered, clutching hold of Nathan's arm.

"He's here," whispered Curtis. This was another one of those moments where I had to ready myself for almost-certain death. Urgh, I was getting _so goddamn sick_ of this!

All of a sudden, some hip-hop-cross-dubstep music started up loudly, coming from the corridor to the left of the vending machine. It sounded vaguely familiar. I was so sure I'd heard it somewhere before. The five of us hurried into the corridor, looking around wildly for the source of the music.

I was about to ask if anyone had a clue where it was coming from, when There was a sudden scream- distinctly female- somewhere to the behind of us.

"Oh Jesus, he's kickin' the shit out of her!" Nathan exclaimed anxiously, turning around and running back up the corridor. Curtis, Simon, Alisha and I started sprinting after him, hoping we'd reach Kelly before Psycho really hurt her.

The noise had emanated from one of the disused storage rooms along the corridor, and the five of us rammed into the door, almost knocking it off its hinges. But instead of finding Kelly being beaten up by Psycho- which was both a good thing and a bad thing, as we now had no idea where they were- we found a table that had a TV placed on it, which was also hooked up to an Xbox 360.

The music had stopped now, and had instead been replaced by a stand-by video of a man dressed eerily similar to Psycho beating the shite out of a different man, who was tied to a chair, demanding where Conti was. The five of us flinched instinctively when the first guy shot the second in the head.

Light bulb moment! I suddenly knew why the music sounded so familiar. I'd played the PlayStation 3 version of this game at home! I'd borrowed it from a friend from sixth form! Huh. You would've thought I'd of recognized the whole 'Conti' thing, really. Then again, it had been a little over seven months since I'd played it.

Simon took a couple of steps forward and picked up the game case, staring intensely at the cover. "He's living the game," he informed us.

"Where'd all this come from?" asked Curtis.

"It was the guy in the mask," Alisha and I said simultaneously, before the two of us stared at each other in complete WTF. I quickly recovered though, grabbing one of the controllers. "I fucking love this game!" I threw the controller to Nathan, then grabbed the other. "Fancy a go?"

As Nathan and I distracted ourselves from the harsh reality of the present by losing ourselves in Double Player Mode, which basically involved seeing who could get the highest kill total (I was winning by six kills, booya!), Simon started reading out the game synopsis from the case.

"His name's Jimmy Sisca," he said. "He spent ten years in prison for armed robbery. His lover and his crime boss, Conti," he paused to glare at Nathan. "They double-crossed him on his wedding day."

"Hey, watch me run over this fat bloke!" Nathan said, apparently enthralled by the game. "Run, fat boy, run!" I watched him ram his car into a pixelated fat dude on-screen, who flew up over the hood and dented in the roof of the car, plus most of the back of the vehicle as well. "Ah, he fucked up my car!"

"Well, that's one kill closer to beating me," I mocked, switching my character's weapon to a machine gun and shooting up a large group of women in the game-city's park, taking out eleven of them as they ran around screaming. "Oops. Or not," I grinned as my kill total went up to forty-seven, as opposed to Nathan's meagre thirty-one.

"We need to play the game for real," Simon said ominously. "If we give him his money, I think he'll let Kelly go."

"Are you shitting me?!" I exclaimed, pausing the game. "You want us to somehow get hold of enough money to buy a small house, then just wander in to that warehouse down Tipton Street, and hand it over to Psycho without him sticking a bullet in each of our brains? Good call." I was well aware of how harsh I was being, but I was feeling that irritating sensation of fear again. Not enough to kick my power into gear, but enough that I felt slightly sick.

"It's the only way we can get Kelly back," Simon insisted. Damn, I hated it when he had a point. We couldn't just leave Kelly at the mercy of Psycho. He would kill her for sure.

I sighed. "Fine. You're right. We need to get Kelly back."

"So…now all we need is a hundred grand," said Alisha, sounding reluctant.

"And how the fuck are we meant to do that?" I said, trying to keep everything realistic before everyone started losing their heads over this.

"We could rob a bank," suggested Simon.

"We'd need a car," said Curtis quietly.

"Yeah, okay. Let's rob a bank," agreed Nathan, in that seldom-used serious tone of his.

"What's that?" came a bland-toned voice from the doorway. The five of us turned around sharply. Ah, fuckballs. The probation worker. Why, _why _did it have to be now that he started paying half an interest in what we were doing?

"Nothing," Simon said quickly.

"Well that's funny, isn't it?" the probation worker drawled. "'Cause to me it sounded like you were planning on robbing a bank."

"No, no, no. I said, er…" Nathan said slowly, obviously waiting for inspiration to strike him. "Let's have a big wank! Communal masturbation!" was what he came up with, motioning with his hands. "The ol' circle-jerk."

"Please stop talking," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut and pinching the bridge of my nose.

The probation worker stared at us for a few more seconds, then suddenly held up a set of keys. "Go and wash my car." _Thank you, Fate, you beautiful bitch_, I thought. Could this have come at a more perfect moment? Simon, Alisha, Curtis and I all looked at each other, all of us having had the same idea.

However, Nathan, apparently, had not had that same idea as he angrily retorted, "I don't think cleanin' your car was exactly what they had in mind when they gave us community service!"

"Well I'm a member of the community, and my car needs cleaning," replied the probation worker in a bored tone. "And I don't give a shit."

As Nathan glared at the probation worker, I elbowed him in the ribs. "He wants us to clean his _car_," I told him, widening my eyes evocatively, pushing him to understand. All I got was a blank stare.

"The man wants his car washed," tried Curtis.

_What? _Nathan mouthed to him. Seriously?! Jesus Christ!

"He's giving us his keys, so we can go clean his car!" attempted Alisha, saying it as simply and obviously as she could, and yet…still nothing. If Nathan was honestly that stupid, then I really feared for our baby's mental capacity.

"For fuck sake!" exclaimed Curtis exasperatedly when it became very clear that Nathan was _not _going to comprehend the situation any time soon, grabbing the keys from the probation worker and stomping out the room, the rest of us following.

"Okay, let's do this," whispered Curtis when we were out of the probation worker's earshot.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up," I said. "Me and Alisha need to get changed. I'm not risking these clothes getting covered in blood!"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," said Curtis disbelievingly. "We've gotta go!"

"No, she's right," said Alisha. "We'll stick out if we're not dressed like you lot. Especially her being dressed like she should be in one of them weird heavy metal clubs." She pointed at me, and I raised an eyebrow back. Bitch.

* * *

Alisha and I were changed and out of the locker room in three minutes flat. I had quickly scraped my hair back into practical bunches that hung loosely over my shoulders and kept my hair out of my face. I squared my shoulders and held my head high as we exited the locker room. It was time to pull the plug on Psycho's game once and for all.

The boys looked insultingly surprised to see us emerge from the locker room so quickly. Served them right for thinking girls can't be fast under pressure. I nodded at them, and we quickly headed round the back of the community centre where the probation worker parked his car. Alisha got in the driver's seat, and Nathan called shotgun, leaving Curtis, Simon and me to cram in the back.

"We're stealin' his car!" Nathan exclaimed in realisation as Alisha stuck the keys in the ignition. "Right! Yeah, I get it!"

"About fucking time too!" I said, and he twisted round in his seat to give me that infuriatingly cocky grin of his.

"Let's go!" he said, pointing forwards.

It didn't take long for us to drive to the bank. Alisha parked a little way away from the security van to avoid any form of suspicion, and that was when it became highly evident that none of us had any fucking clue as to what we should do.

"What's the plan?" Curtis asked Simon, knowing he'd probably be the only one who would have any form of idea.

Simon took a deep breath. "I turn invisible, I walk up to the security van and I take the money."

"Works for me," said Alisha, steadying herself by putting her hands back on the steering wheel. I patted Simon comfortingly on the leg, and he gave me a look of thanks before exiting the car.

"Right, keep the engine running," Nathan said the second Simon was scarcely out of earshot. "Just in case he gets caught."

"We're not leaving him here if he does!" I hissed at him, kicking the back of his chair.

"Ouch!" he yelped. "You've really gotta stop doin' stuff like that!" He started messing around with the dashboard, poking the buttons and twisting random dials.

"Nathan! Stop fucking around!" Alisha reprimanded him irately. "Don't touch the stereo!" But she was two seconds too late as Nathan's finger came into contact with the radio dial, and the speakers started blaring out Hanson's _MMMBop_, which was quite literally the most obnoxious song in history.

Alisha quickly hit the button again, killing the music as Curtis and I both glared at the back of Nathan's head. God, what I would have given to be able to Force-choke him at that moment…

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Do you feel this burning sensation at the back of your head yet?" I asked him.

"Where is he?" moaned Alisha, looking out the window. "He should have been back by now!"

As if on cue, the car dipped slightly under new-found pressure and the door slammed shut as Simon re-appeared beside me. He was clutching a sort of metallic suitcase in his hands.

"How was it?" Alisha asked almost urgently.

"Very easy," Simon replied, sounding vaguely dazed. The five of us made some relieved noises that were a cross between a laugh and a sigh of relief.

"A bunch of young offenders develop superpowers and not one of us thinks of usin' 'em to commit crime?" Nathan grinned. "Shame on us!"

"Alright guys, we've got the money," I said. "Let's take this mother out." Alisha nodded and started up the car, hurtling away from the scene as fast as possible. My heart was racing at about five beats per second. I didn't want to do this. But I had to.

* * *

We arrived at the Tipton Street warehouse in about ten minutes, the car screeching to a sudden stop, jolting all of us forward slightly. Psycho's sports car was parked near the warehouse entrance, indicating that is was indeed where we needed to be. We quickly piled out of the car, and Nathan almost immediately clambered into the sports car's driving seat.

"D'you think this is gonna work?" Alisha asked matter-of-factly.

"It'll work," I said confidently, before going over to the sports car and sitting sideways on Nathan's lap, admiring the interior of the vehicle. "Damn, we have _got _to get a car like this."

"When he gets the money, it should be game over," explained Simon.

"But then we beat the shit out of him and take the money back," said Nathan, pointing at Simon around me. "Right? Come on! A hundred grand's a lot of money!"

"That is true," lamented Curtis.

"I've always wanted to get a pair of Louboutin boots," I said dreamily, thinking of what I could buy with a hundred thousand pounds.

"And our community service is endin' soon. We need to look towards the future!" Nathan exclaimed, before nudging me. "C'mon love, move it. You're killin' my legs."

"Oh, thanks for that confidence booster, _babe_," I said sarcastically, but I gave him a quick kiss on the lips before hopping out of the car.

"You think we should become criminals?" Simon asked incredulously.

"No," said Nathan, standing up and accidentally beeping the horn of the car._ Jesus Christ_. "We're already criminals! I'm talkin' about becomin' _successful _criminals! You know, the ones that make money, and don't get caught, and have girlfriends with enormous breast implants! Not that you need those, baby," he added, looking at me. I just stuck my middle finger up at him as the others rolled their eyes.

"I thought we'd use our powers to help people," said Simon, somewhat naïvely.

"Naaaah," said Nathan, as if the very idea of helping people was preposterous.

"Look, we can talk about what we're gonna do with the money _after _we get Kelly back!" said Alisha, taking control.

"Alright. We're…we're way out of our depth here," said Nathan in hushed tones. "But that's okay, right? We've all watched TV, that's how we learn how to do this stuff. Just, y'know, butch it up and play gangster. Come on!" He pointed at the warehouse door before joining the back of our little group.

I couldn't feel any heat on my hands, which meant I wasn't scared enough for my power to start up, so I grabbed hold of Nathan's hand and held on- tightly. His arm went straight around my shoulders and he absent-mindedly started stroking the tendrils of dark brown curls that had tumbled over my shoulder in their pigtail.

"I'm scared," I whispered to him, pressing my face into the top of his arm to stop myself crying.

"It's gonna be fine," he whispered back, kissing the top of my head. "I'm not gonna let him hurt you."

I smiled wanly up at him as the five of us walked hesitantly into the main part of the warehouse. We were all following Curtis, for reasons unknown, and were about to head up some stairs to the next floor when the sound of a gun cocking caused us all to freeze.

"You better have my money, Conti." Psycho's dead voice came from behind us, and we slowly turned around to face him. Oh goodie, he was pointing his favourite gun straight at Simon. Behind him, bizarrely, Kelly was hanging from a meat hook, her hands bound together and legs dangling three feet off the ground.

"Kelly, are you alright?!" Nathan called.

"Me arms are fockin' killin' me!" she spat, looking severely pissed off at the world. Hey, who could blame her? She was dressed in some form of fucking hideous bridal gown, and her nose looked broken, blood stained all around her face.

"Slide it over," Psycho instructed Simon, apparently unaware of the verbal exchange that had just been made. Simon placed the case on the floor with a nod, and gave it a sharp shove. Unfortunately, the case only travelled around two or three metres, which was barely a third of the distance between him and Psycho. Looking highly embarrassed, Simon walked over to the case and pushed again, and again it only travelled about two metres.

"Now that's just embarrassing," Curtis said quietly, an underlying tone of pity in his voice. Now looking _very _discomfited, Simon just picked up the case and handed it to Psycho, who insisted Simon show him the case's contents. Simon put the case down on the floor and popping it open, unveiling the many wads of twenty pound notes.

Psycho's body went rigid for a second, and then he sagged, his head falling forward and arms hanging limply by his side. We'd done it. It was over. I almost felt like collapsing with joy and relief, when Psycho's head suddenly snapped back up, his whole body tense and alert. Oh, _fucker_! He'd started a new level!

"Is it true?" he asked Simon in his mechanical voice.

"Is what true?" Simon said hesitantly.

"You know what I'm talking about." There was a pause in which Curtis, Alisha, Kelly, Nathan and I all looked at each other in bewilderment. "Don't play games with me, Conti."

"Urgh, he talks dis _bollocks_ all da time!" Kelly exclaimed bitterly.

"Fat Tony says you've got an undercover cop in your organisation," said Psycho blankly, still looking at Simon. Fuck, this didn't take long to get even more dangerous.

"See? That's why I don't play computer games, 'cause they never bloody end!" Nathan hissed, panicked.

Psycho took a couple of steps closer to Simon, whose face was now etched with worry. "Who's the cop?" he demanded.

"N-no one?" stuttered Simon, but it sounded more like a question than an answer. With no form of hesitation, Psycho's hand raised and he cracked Simon sharply on the top of the head with the butt of his gun. Simon slumped to the floor instantly, totally out cold.

"Simon!" I shrieked, about to take a flying leap at Psycho and grind his face into the floor. But Nathan's arms enclosed around my waist, stopping me from doing anything other than thrashing around, trying to free myself.

"Don't be fuckin' stupid!" he hissed fearfully in my ear. "You'll get yourself killed!"

It didn't matter anyway. Now that Psycho's game-brain told him that one of us was 'an undercover cop', apparently one of us had to die anyway. Fan-fucking-tastic. Within the space of about five minutes, the rest of us were strung up either side of Kelly, hands bound and legs dangling. Now I could feel the fucking heat- my hands were starting to get so hot you could have fried eggs on them.

"I'm going to my car to get a chainsaw," Psycho informed us once he'd finished stringing up Curtis, who was the last to receive the hook treatment. "And when I get back, you're gonna tell me which one of you is the undercover cop." And with that, Psycho started striding back up the warehouse and out the doors, vanishing from sight.

"Well, he certainly knows how to keep a girl hangin'," I said dryly. "I'll give him that."

"Nice one. Brilliant fockin' rescue!" Kelly exclaimed angrily, glaring at me to her left and Alisha to her right.

"Oh come on!" I shot back. "How were we supposed to know he'd start up a whole new fucking level!?"

"No chance of a rewind then?" Nathan directed at Curtis, who glowered back. "Get your boyfriend to sort it out!" he then shouted at Alisha.

"Er, he's not my boyfriend!" retorted Alisha.

"We split up, alright?" added Curtis, irritated.

"Huh, so you're available?" Nathan asked Alisha.

"Not to you!"

"Hey!" Nathan said, sounding offended. "In case you've forgotten I've already got that little beauty-" he jerked his head in my direction. "-to call me girlfriend, thank you very much."

"Where's that prick in the mask when we need him?" snapped Curtis, struggling against his binderies. _Dangling from a hook unconscious next to me_ was what I wanted to say, but in truth, the question brought me up short. Where _was _Superhoodie-Simon? Fuck, was this what that final clock was ticking down to?!

However, my inner-monologuing was interrupted by Nathan making some highly unusual- even for him- grunting noises. I turned my head to see him flitting and thrashing around on his hook, claiming he'd be able to flip right of if he got 'a bit more momentum'. He even tried to use Simon's unconscious form to help himself- wrapping his legs around Simon's waist to turn himself around. Somewhere in all of this, Simon himself woke up, promptly telling Nathan to fuck off once he had done.

It was in that moment that a sudden idea occurred to me. Under my hands, I could feel the metal of the hooks gently bubbling away, melting under the heat of my power. Did that mean…yes! Yes, it must! If I held on hard enough, I'd be able to melt straight through the metal and get help!

"Guys! Guys, guys, guys!" I said quickly. "I've had an idea! I can-" But my explanation was totally interrupted when all of a sudden, there was a slight flash of light and someone appeared, literally out of thin air. It took a moment for me to place the girl's face, when it hit me that she was the girl whose flat we had broken into a couple of weeks back, the girl whose bed Nathan did a shit in. Oh dear.

"Why are you hanging from meat hooks?" she asked.

"This is some of the weird shit I was telling you about," Curtis told her. It was very clear that Curtis and this girl knew each other, though how, I had no fucking clue.

"Isn't that da girl whose flat we broke into?" Kelly whispered to me, and I nodded. Nathan suddenly pulled a very guilty expression. Clearly he remembered also.

"The new guy's heart got transplanted into her," Curtis explained. "She got his power."

"I guess that makes sense," said Nathan.

The girl clocked eyes on him, and her features rearranged themselves from an expression of perplexity to an expression of extreme fury. "You!"

"Hi," Nathan said sheepishly. "Sorry about, er…you know."

"Shitting in my bed?" the girl provided sarcastically.

"Yeah. Wrong flat."

"I think you're supposed to rescue us!" Simon informed her before she could try to kill Nathan.

The girl nodded a couple of times and said, "Okay." before hurrying over to the chains, pulling at them in an attempt to get us down, but it didn't work. Before she even had a chance to pull at the right chain, the sound of the doors rolling open rang through the room. Shitmuffins, Psycho was coming back.

"Get out of 'ere!" Kelly urged the girl.

"You need to get out of here!" said Curtis at the same time Simon said, "He's coming back!"

"Get out! Now!" Curtis said again.

"I can't just do it whenever I want!" the girl said defensively.

"No, because that would be _far _too convenient and useful," Nathan groaned sarcastically. At that moment, Psycho came round the corner, a shiny black chainsaw in one hand and his gun, which was still stained with Simon's blood, in the other.

"Who are you?" he asked the new girl, twitching slightly.

"It's…complicated," she answered, trying and failing to not look scared.

Psycho set his chainsaw down on the ground and pointed the gun at her, cocking it as he did so. "Hands."

The girl didn't even try and put up a fight. Instead, she simply held her hands out to him and, before we knew it, she was getting strung up alongside Curtis.

"You need to tell him you're the undercover cop!" Simon whispered urgently to Nathan as Psycho raised the new girl up. "If he kills you it doesn't matter!"

"That's easy for you to say!" said Nathan aggrievedly. "You're not the one who has to be dismembered with a chainsaw!"

"Yeah, and I don't exactly want to watch my boyfriend get dissected, thank you very much!" I hissed at Simon. "This isn't _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre_, is it?!"

"I'm sorry you got into this," I heard Curtis apologise to the girl.

"I really hope that fing doesn't start," Kelly said fearfully as we watched Psycho pick up the chainsaw, and to our absolute horror, it started up with a vengeance. I'd never been so scared of something in my whole life.

"You're first," Psycho told Alisha, and we all started screaming at him, begging him to leave her alone, not to touch her, that he couldn't do this…all the generic stuff. I started squeezing at my hook harder, willing it to break off or melt enough for me to break it myself. It was melting rapidly, I could feel it! It wouldn't take much more. I needed to get down, I _needed _to…

"Wait! Alright, alright, it's me!" Nathan suddenly exclaimed. "I'm the 'undercover cop'. So fire up the chainsaw and get with the sawin', and I'd appreciate it if you did it quickly, and cleanly."

Seeing that Psycho was distracted by Nathan's speech, Curtis took the opportunity to thrust his leg out and kick Psycho in the face- a kick that left him reeling. Curtis shouted at Alisha to run, and she did just that, sprinting as fast as she could out of the room. It didn't take long for Psycho to recover, however, and he was soon marching after her, gun raised.

"Come on, you bastard power!" I muttered to myself, giving the hook a final tight squeeze. There was a groaning sound of metal being bent, and the next thing I knew I had hit the cold concrete ground on all fours, scraping my knees.

"What the f- how the fuck did you do that?!" spluttered Nathan as I twisted my hand round over my bindings, burning them away and freeing my wrists.

"Power, remember?" I said, dusting myself off. "I'm going after them! I'll be back!" I turned and started sprinting headlong out of the room, ignoring the cries of, "You can't!" and "It's too dangerous!" and "You'll be killed!" behind me.

As I burst into the corridor, I realised I had no fucking clue where I was supposed to be going. I turned down this corridor and that, my boots thudding hard against the floor. The warehouse was like a fucking labyrinth. I had no clue where Alisha had gone, where Psycho had gone, where I even was!

I had no idea how long I'd been running, but it wasn't long until I heard a gunshot fire somewhere in another room to my left, not too far away.

"ALISHA!" I screamed, starting to run even faster. I could hear sobbing, sobbing I recognized as Alisha's. Shit! I burst into a what looked like an old fuse box centre or something. Psycho was standing in the middle of the room, staring down at Alisha, who was on the floor…cradling Superhoodie-Simon in her arms.

I rushed in just as Simon announced, "I'm the undercover cop." It was then that I noticed Alisha was covering the part of Simon's chest where his heart was with her hands, which were stained with blood. It was Simon who had been shot by Psycho, not Alisha.

"No!" I shouted, running over to him and dropping to my knees next to him. Psycho abruptly turned around and stalked his way out of the room. I made Alisha put half of Simon's body- and therefore half of his weight- on my legs as well. Both of us were sobbing, occasionally saying, "No!" as we realised he was dying.

"You knew as well?" I mumbled to Alisha as she removed her hands to allow me to apply pressure to the wound.

She nodded before reaching into her pocket for her phone. "Hold on," she sniffed, looking at Simon. "I'll get you an ambulance."

"And the police!" I said, applying more pressure and ending up with a shitload more of Simon's blood on my hand. "That motherfucker is gonna pay for this!"

But Simon shook his head, gently pushing Alisha's phone away. "It has to be like this!" he told us seriously, looking from Alisha to me.

"Why?" she asked, sniffing again.

"So we can be together." I was going to ask what he was talking about, as present-him and Alisha weren't together, but I knew that now wasn't the time for that question.

When we realised what he meant- that we had to let him die- the two of us started howling with tears; harsh, loud sobs that almost convulsed our bodies.

"You can't do this, Simon!" I sobbed. "You're my best friend! I can't let you die, I can't!"

"I can't let you die either!" wailed Alisha.

"You have to," insisted Simon, starting to look very pale in the face. "Or I'll never be this person."

"Simon, don't talk like that!" I cried.

"You can't do this!" wept Alisha. Simon gripped one of her hands in one of his, and placed his other hand over mine, which were still covering his wound.

"It's going to be okay," he said, his voice sounding much weaker and more laboured. Alisha leaned forward a bit and started sobbing harder, and I pressed my forehead on to Simon's, watching my tears drip on to his face. He removed his hand from mine and reached into his pocket, pulling out a box of matches.

"Why have you got those?" I asked through my tears.

"I need you both to do something," he replied. He gestured vaguely to a corner of the room, where two metal containers stood. "There's petrol in those cans."

"No!" I protested instantly as Alisha began hysterically shaking her head. "No, no, no! Simon, we can't! Don't you understand that! We can't, it's too painful!"

"No one can know it's me," he said gravely, pushing the matchbox into Alisha's hands. "Promise me you won't tell him!"

"Simon, please! There has to be another way!" I begged, now sobbing my heart out. "Any other way! Just not like this! Please not like this!"

"It's the only way, Georgia," he replied. "Just promise me!"

"You can't die! I love you!" sobbed Alisha.

"I love you too!" I also sobbed.

"I'll still be here," Simon insisted tenderly.

"No! I don't love him!" Alisha cried hysterically, looking at the door, then back to Simon. "I love you!"

"It's you falling in love with him. That makes him become me," Simon said quietly. He reached up and stroked Alisha's face gently, then turned and lightly pulled on one of my pigtails. "It's all coming together…" His voice trailed off as Alisha and I continued to cry, tears spurting down our cheeks and dripping on to the floor and on to Simon's bodygear. Simon's eyes gently closed, and they did not reopen.

"No! Don't!" Alisha exclaimed through her tears, shaking him slightly. "Simon?!"

"Simon! Simon, please wake up!" I wept. "Simon, please! Don't go!" By now, the two of us _were _convulsing with our sobs, clutching on to Simon like we'd never let go. We didn't move for a few minutes; instead, we just sat in the middle of the room, hugging Simon's body and sobbing.

"Alisha?" I said gently, once the two of us had calmed down enough to speak. "Alisha, come on. It's time. We need to do it."

Alisha nodded slowly, seemingly dazed by what had happened. "Yeah. Yeah, okay." The two of us stood up slowly, easing Simon's body down to the floor and laying him out. As Alisha fetched the petrol cans, I placed his mask back over his face, as I felt that was what he would have wanted.

After that, it was like someone had put me and Alisha on autopilot. We mechanically picked up a petrol can each and started emptying their contents over Simon's body, both us with tears still streaming down our faces. We then each systematically lit a match and dropped them down on the petrol-soaked corpse, and watched as the boy we both loved for different reasons went up in a cloud of smoke and crackle of flames.

* * *

_Pull up in your fast car,  
Whistling my name,  
Open up a beer,  
And you say, Get over here,  
And play a video game.  
_**-Lana Del Rey, "Video Games"**

* * *

**A/N- Right. I almost cried writing that last bit. I cannot **_**believe **_**how long this chapter is! Seriously! How can I go from being barely able to write seven pages to writing bloody 15?! Do not expect many more chapters to be so long, this is a serious one-off! On the plus side, this must mean that all my writer's block has officially vanished, so wahey for that! Also, yay for me updating quicker! We've got ninety reviews now, so is there any chance we can make a hundred with this chapter? I'd be so amazingly happy if I broke a hundred, so to you guys that follow but don't usually review, if you reviewed just once, just this chapter, I'd be absolutely ecstatic! Love you all! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- I recently added links to what Georgia's tattoos look like. Be sure to check those bad boys out. :)**

**References:**

"**Let's take this mother out" is from the movie **_**Starter For 10**_**.**

"… **certainly know how to keep a girl hanging" is said by Catwoman in **_**Batman: Arkham City**_**.**


	32. Psycho Bitch

**A/N- So goodbye Episode 4, hello Episode 5. Can we all take a moment to appreciate my good friend CourtneyMisfitMarie, as she provided me with some marvellous ideas for this chapter! Absolutely beautiful thanks to Lizzie (I'm speechless. I think you just became one of my favourite people ever!) and Gwenlynn for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Two- Psycho Bitch**

I didn't really speak much over the next twelve hours. I tried to keep up pretences during the ride back to the community centre by laughing a couple of times and trying to get on with things, but on the inside I felt bleak and empty. God knows how Alisha felt. She also barely spoke for those first couple of hours after Superhoodie-Simon's death also, and I caught her staring wistfully at present-Simon on more than one occasion. I knew she would get over this. She had to, just like I did.

But it wouldn't be easy.

Once Alisha and I had gotten them down from the hooks, the others hadn't ask us why we had taken so long. They hadn't ask why we both had tearstained faces, or why we had bloodstained hands, or why we both stank of smoke and petrol. Or why, in my case, my eyeliner had streaked so far down my face it looked like I'd been attacked by a four-year-old armed with a Sharpie pen.

The hours after that were…complete hell. I looked like complete shit. I hadn't bothered to reapply any make-up, because I knew as soon as I got home I'd make some excuse to get away from Nathan and lock myself away to cry. As we walked back to my flat, he made several attempts to start a conversation with me, but I only gave him monosyllabic replies, scared if I opened my mouth too much I'd start crying again.

However, as I pushed open my front door, all set to just crawl into the shower and sob, Nathan had apparently not picked up on my less-than-cheerful mood. Instead of keeping his distance, he suddenly pressed me against the wall, layering little insistent, nipping kisses along my neck.

"Nathan, not now," I muttered, but he either didn't hear me or ignored me as he moved up to kiss my mouth, sliding one of his hands up my t-shirt. A surge of anger flooded through me, and I suddenly slammed my hands into his chest, knocking him clean into the opposite wall. "Just fuck off, Nathan! I'm not in the mood, alright?"

"Jesus, what's gotten into you? Since when d'you ever say no to shaggin'?"

"Oh, piss off! I don't feel well!"

"Yeah, I can tell." Nathan fixed me with a hard stare. "You've been actin' weird ever since you came back with Alisha after runnin' after that game psycho. Did somethin' happen that you're not tellin' me?"

"No!" I snapped a little too quickly. "There's just this little thing I'm getting at the moment called a period!" Lie. "I'm not exactly feeling my hottest at the moment because I'm extremely hormonal!" Lie. "I just need a bit of time alone for a minute, alright?" Truth.

"Fine. Yeah, I'll leave you alone," Nathan snapped back, wrenching the front door open. "Call me when you decide to stop actin' like such a bitch."

"Oh, go fuck yourself!" I snarled.

"Don't worry, I will, since you're apparently not interested!" Woah, that was harsh. I knew I'd probably offended him by saying no to sex, but what he'd just said was a little bit insensitive. But there was no way on hell's earth that I would back down, so instead I just pushed Nathan out the door and slammed said door in his face. Then I leaned back against the door and slid down to the floor with my head in my hands, allowing the tears to fall thickly and freely.

I didn't know how long I was crying for. I just knew by the time any coherent thoughts started forming in my mind, the light outside had changed from relatively sunny to dusk.

I just…couldn't believe Simon was gone, and yet for some totally fucked up reason, he was still here, in another form. Another nerdier, less confident, not as hot form. He was my best friend- he still was, really- yet the hole in my heart felt larger than ever.

"Why can't my life ever be simple!?" I cried out to no one. "Oh yeah, 'cause that would be too fucking easy, wouldn't it, '_God'_?!" I spat the last word as though it was in quotation marks. "Well go on then! Take everything else away from me! Not that there's anything else left to take! Charlie, Simon and now Nathan! I have nothing left to lose! You win! Okay, you fucking win!"

I stood up slowly and shakily, made my way into my bedroom and engulfed myself in the darkness of my duvet, past caring that I was still fully dressed and still had make-up tracks etched on my face. I grabbed the pillow Nathan slept on, which still held his scent, and curled up in a ball, sobbing and sobbing until I fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

"_Simon? Simon, is that you? I…I thought you were dead!"_

"_I am dead, Georgia. And it's all your fault." Simon sounded so cold. So distant, yet he was standing right in front of me, barely an arm's length away. "You could have saved me, but you were too wrapped up in your perfect little world with your so-called boyfriend that you have no idea what's been going on around you. This is all your fault, and now everybody knows it."_

"_No! Simon, I didn't- that's not fair!" I protested. "I didn't do anything wrong! It's not my fault! I-"_

"_You?" Alisha suddenly appeared, her pretty face contorted with a look of pure loathing. A look directed at me. "You little liar, I can't believe you! I loved him, but what does that matter to __you__ when __you__ have your precious Nathan?" Every single syllable dripped with scorn._

_Kelly was all of a sudden there as well, glaring at me with such odium I could practically feel it boring holes in me. "Ya fink we're ya friends after all the shit ya put os through? Nathan doesn't even luv ya!"_

"_You're wrong!" I screamed at them. "Nathan does love me! He does! And Alisha, I- I couldn't do anything, I swear! I loved Simon as well! He was my best friend!"_

"_You really don't understand, do you?" That came from Nathan, who was suddenly standing in between Kelly and Alisha, looking at me like I was a piece of shit on his shoe. "Why would I want __you__? Why would anyone want you? You're a murderer."_

"_Nathan, don't say that! I…I love you! I'm not a murderer!" I howled, falling to my knees. "__I'm not a murderer__!"_

"_We don't want you!" they laughed in unison, circling around me, repeating the phrase over and over again, getting louder and louder until I thought my eardrums would burst. Nathan turned to Kelly, putting his arms tight around her and pressing his lips to hers._

"_No!" I screeched. "No! Stop it! No!"_

* * *

"No!"

_BEEP! _

"No!"

_ BEEP! _

"No!"

_ BEEP! _

"NO!" I screamed, my eyes snapping open as I scrambled into a bolt-upright sitting position in bed, gasping for breath. The alarm clock was going at it like hellfire, slowly getting louder until I hit the snooze button with such force I'm amazed my fist didn't go straight through the clock.

My heart was pounding so hard against my ribcage it felt like it would break out and a cold sweat dripped from my forehead. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headboard, trying to slow my breathing and recall the events of the day before, begging my tears to stay down. He was dead. Simon- well, Future Simon- was dead. There was nothing I could do about it, but it wasn't my fault. It wasn't.

I looked over at my alarm clock and realized I had just over forty-five minutes to get ready and get to the community centre. Before grabbing a fresh towel so I could take a shower, I picked up my phone and texted Alisha. God knows how bad she was feeling this morning.

I quickly typed out _Hey Alisha. Hope you're feeling okay this morning. I mean, that's probably a stupid thing to ask you, but I'm here if you need to talk. G xx _and pressed Send.

After dragging myself out of the shower ten minutes later- during which I'd spent seventy percent of the time crying again- I pulled on my black skinny jeans and a tight white vest top. I really couldn't be bothered to make any effort with my hair or face, but I had to keep up appearances, give the illusion I was totally fine.

I applied the tiniest amount of foundation, plastered on my eyeliner in an attempt to cover up the dark purple rings under my eyes and dabbed on a little clear lipgloss. After that, I stepped into a pair of pink hi-top trainers and left, locking the door behind me.

The first thing I needed to do when I got to the community centre was talk to Nathan. I wasn't going to _apologise_, as such, because how I'd acted had been (relatively) justified, but I was going to make it known to him that I felt bad about how I'd treated him.

"Jesus, when the fuck did I grow a conscience?" I grumbled to myself, picking up my pace slightly. I told myself it was just because of that dream I'd had, that I needed to prove to myself that the others did care about me. I didn't even _know _where all that love stuff dream-me was bleating about had come from. Nathan and I had never had that deep a conversation about our feelings. Talking about love seemed to fuck up relationships more than arguments did.

Did I love Nathan? Did Nathan love me? I couldn't tell. I had strong feelings for him, deep feelings, but _love_? I was eighteen, for Christ's sake. I was too young for love, for such commitment. Urgh, forget it. Who the fuck was I kidding. I knew it wouldn't be long before I told Nathan that I loved him. Wasn't that what kept most families- which was what Nathan, our baby and I would eventually be- stable?

The community centre was practically empty when I walked in. The only sounds were the occasional dripping of the pipes and groans from the wood in the walls. I hurried into the main hall to find Nathan, as I assumed he'd be passed out on his little platform thing. When he wasn't there, I rushed into the shower room that connected to the locker rooms.

It was dark when I went in, indicating that Nathan wasn't in there. However, as I turned to go, I caught a whiff of something metallic. _What the fuck? _Both confused and curious, I felt along the wall until I came to the light switch. I flicked it on, flooding the small room with light, and retched.

One of the mirrors was completely smashed, white splinters cracking right up to the corners with blood dried into the centre of the crack. One of the sinks was completely coated in dried blood. It was all along the rim, trickling into the basin, and some still dripping on to the tiled flooring. Following this trickle was a large puddle of the sticky red stuff congealing on the tiles.

It must have been a fairly recent attack, otherwise the blood would have completely dried out to a crust. What the fuck had happened? Whose blood was it? Then it hit me. There had probably only been one person in the community centre last night. Oh my God.

"Nathan!" I shrieked, turning on my heel and hurrying out of the room, totally forgetting there was a door that connected the showers to the locker room. "Nathan!" I burst into the locker room so fast the door swung into the wall with a crash and rebounded, almost hitting me in the face. "Nathan!"

Oh thank God. He was okay. Well, sort of. Nathan was sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the wall, legs sprawled out in front of him and his torso sagging in a defeated fashion. He was moving his neck every now and again, massaging it with his hand, and every time he did he hissed in pain.

"Oh my God, Nathan! What happened?!" I exclaimed, running over to him and sitting down on his lap so I was straddling him, placing my hands either side of his ashen face. "There's blood all over the shower room! I just saw it! I was so worried! I mean, I know you're immortal and everything but I just panicked and I thought the worst, and oh God, I'm so sorry about last night!" I babbled. Damn. Well, there went the last shred of dignity and self-respect I had. I started kissing Nathan- on his mouth, on his cheek, on his forehead- saying, "I'm so sorry I was such a bitch. I'm so sorry!" in between kisses.

"Jesus, Georgia. It's alright," Nathan murmured, putting his hands on my hips. "You'll just have to make it up to me in some way later." He winked at me, and I leaned forward and buried my face in the curve of his neck, unbelievably relieved that he wasn't mad with me anymore.

"Wot's wrong wiv you two?" asked Kelly, suddenly coming round the side of the lockers.

"Do you want that alphabetically or chronologically?" I asked, rubbing my face with my hands and pushing myself up off Nathan's lap into a standing position, leaning back against the lockers. I looked down at Nathan, who still looked slightly pained. "What _did _happen to you?" I asked him.

"Some bastard killed me last night," he replied forlornly.

"_What_?" I said, thunderstruck. "And you didn't think to open up with that rather than letting me have a miniature panic attack!?" I felt a quick flash of heat radiate from my hands to my elbows, but it died down almost as quickly as it came on. "Do I need to flip a bitch?"

"Are ya windin' os op?" Kelly said unsympathetically. By this point, Alisha, Simon and Curtis had all arrived and were staring at Nathan in perplexity.

"No! Cross my heart and hope to die!" Nathan insisted, before throwing his arms up slightly in exasperation. "Or not."

"Who was it?" asked Curtis almost urgently, which was weird, since I never really thought he liked or cared for Nathan that much, if at all.

"I don't know, I was too busy being savagely beaten to death," Nathan retorted. "That is not a pleasant way to die!"

"Have you got any enemies?" put in Simon.

"No!" Nathan looked at him like he was insane. "I'm universally popular and well liked! Why would anybody wanna kill me?"

Er…well, this didn't take long to get slightly awkward. A blanket of silence fell upon the group for a few seconds as we all looked at each other, asking ourselves if he had seriously just asked us that.

The silence was broken by Curtis, who scoffed and said, "I can think of a few reasons."

"Definitely," added Alisha.

"Shitloads," tacked on Kelly.

Nathan looked at me for support, but I just shrugged. "Sorry babe, even I can think of several reasons why someone would kill you."

Nathan then turned his pleading stare to Simon who, to everyone's surprise, smirked and said, "You annoy people." All of us burst out laughing, but I attempted to contain mine as so to not offend Nathan too much.

"See, why would you even say somethin' like that?" Nathan said, sounding wounded. "That's very hurtful. I thought we were friends, you ungrateful little twat!"

"Shut up, Nathan!" I warned at the same time Alisha snapped, "Don't speak to him like that!" Everyone's eyes flicked to her, everyone seemingly very shocked at what she had just said. Everyone except me, that was.

"Why're you stickin' up for him?" Nathan demanded. There was an awkward silence in which Alisha looked uneasily at the floor. A furtive smile suddenly appeared on Nathan's face. "Do you love him?"

"Oh, why don't you go and suck yourself off?" she scowled, turning around and storming from the locker room.

"Oh, I wish I could. I could never reach it," Nathan said pensively. I knew that look on his face. Oh God, here came another of Nathan's ridiculously graphic stories, and this was one I really, _really _did not want to hear.

"Urgh, that is too wrong," Kelly announced disgustedly.

"Oh, come on now, we've all tried!" he said complacently, gesturing between himself, Curtis and Simon, who both shook their heads in revulsion. "This one time, right, I tied a rope to my feet," Nathan suddenly slanted himself down to the floor, positioning himself awkwardly with his legs almost above his head. "And tried to yank them up over my head. And I've got like, six pillows." I honestly had never seen anything as strange as someone actually attempting to give themself a blow job. It was also something I never wanted to see again for the rest of my life. "I nearly broke my neck, I was so close!" Nathan collapsed back on the floor, dropping his legs at long last. "An inch feels like a mile. So how close did you get?" he directed at Curtis, who tersely replied with, "I'm not even having this conversation."

"You see, it must be physically impossible," Nathan continued, struggling back into a sitting position. "'Cause if men _could _suck themselves off, then the female of the species would be surplus to requirement."

"Dis is why people kill you," Kelly said bluntly, opening her locker.

"And this is also why I'm _considering_ killing you," I added, also opening my locker.

"What? I'm just makin' conversation," he said innocently, standing up and leaning against his locker, which was only five lockers away from my own.

"Remind me again why I made the conscious decision to date you," I said pityingly, pulling off my skinny jeans and shoving them on the top shelf of the locker, then following it up by taking off my vest as well. I unhooked my jumpsuit and stepped into it, pulling the sleeves over my arms.

"You'll have to ask yourself that, my little sweetness, but," he drawled. "You sure as hell weren't complain' about it the other day when I was gettin' all up in your-"

"Say another goddamned word and I'll be rendered 'surplus', as you put it, by castration, if you catch my drift!" I interrupted fiercely.

"Actually babe, I'm not sure I do. Care to elaborate?"

In answer to Nathan's sarcasm, I held up two fingers and made a gesture of scissors cutting something, to which he infuriatingly replied with, "But then what with you do without Nathan Junior? You know you couldn't live without him."

"Ha, that's what you think. For all you know, you're one of many trying to keep me satisfied…baby." I walked over to him and kissed him sarcastically on the cheek before zipping up my jumpsuit and heading out of the locker rooms.

* * *

Oh good Lord. The whole community centre was totally buzzing with people, all hurrying around, some carrying chairs, others handing out flyers, one of which was stuffed into my hand. _For fuck sake, here we go_. Well, this explained the banners we were being forced to put up seemingly by the dozen.

There was going to be a charity run tomorrow afternoon here at the community centre. Now, I had absolutely no problem with charity workers. I'd done several things for charity myself, specifically for the National Autistic Society in honour of my cousin Ethan, who had acute autism.

Okay, yes, I did have a serious problem with running. I hated any form of exercise that didn't involve swimming, and sports bras had to be the most unflattering form of underwear _ever_! They totally flattened your boobs! Also, anyone who ran for joy who actually enjoyed the exercise clearly had deep psychological issues that they weren't willing to admit.

"I bet half of these douchebags don't even care about charity," I grumbled to Alisha and Kelly as we raised up what felt like the sixteenth banner announcing _RUN FOR FRIENDS! RUN FOR FAMILY! _

"Are ya alright, Georgia?" Kelly asked me suddenly.

I frowned. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno," Kelly shrugged. "It's jost this mornin' you and Nathan were like, all over each ova, and then ya seemed really pissed off wiv 'im."

"That's just us, though," I said, shrugging as well. "Besides, you know me. It takes the tiniest thing to make me snap. It doesn't mean that I mean what I'm saying. Which I didn't, by the way. I only have one boyfriend."

"Yeah, and sometimes I wonder why ya even wiv 'im," Kelly said bluntly. "I mean, I'm not bein' funny, yeah? But ya bof so different."

"Are we though?" I said. "Are we really?"

"Well, you're all like, I dunno, you care about people's feelings usually," chipped in Alisha. "And Nathan's just a dickhead."

"That's true," I said with a giggle. "But somehow we just…work, you know? We fit together, if you know what I mean." Cue ridiculously dirty cackle from me.

"Oh, for fock sake," sighed Kelly, wandering off in the direction of the locker room. I laughed again, then, checking that nobody could overhear me, I turned to Alisha.

"Did you get my text this morning?" I asked her. "You never replied."

"Hmm?" Alisha seemed lost in thought, staring over at Simon, who had just tripped over a box of water bottles. "Oh, right. Yeah. I'm almost outta credit though."

"So how _are _you holding up then?" I asked her gently, putting my hand on her jumpsuit-clad shoulder. Alisha hesitated. "Come on, Alisha. You can talk to me. I think we're the only ones who know- who knew," I corrected myself. "About him."

"It feels like such _shit_," she said bitterly. "I stand here and I…I can see him. But it isn't him. I mean, I know it will be him, eventually, but I don't want to wait anymore."

"It won't be long," I told her soothingly. "I see him acting more like the future Simon everyday. Just give him time."

"How did you find out?" she asked abruptly. "About him, I mean? Did he tell you?"

"No. It was an accident. I got hurt…he took me back to that little warehouse thing of his, and I woke up on the floor. He came back in, and I pretended to still be out cold so he'd take off his mask. And he did," I finished, somewhat lamely. "I didn't mean to find out, and to be honest, I kinda wish I hadn't, because now I wouldn't be going through as much emotional trauma as I am."

"Did he tell you anything?" she asked quickly. "Like, anything that's gonna happen to us, or…?"

"No, nothing." Now would not be a good time to mention the whole pregnancy thing. "Why? What did he tell you?"

"Nothing, really," she said quietly. "But I went back to his apartment last night, and I…I found these." Alisha pulled two folded pieces of paper from her pocket, which she handed to me. I unfolded them quickly, and immediately almost dropped them.

"Wha-wha-what?!" I stuttered. "What _are _these?" Well, I knew what it was. They were two of those fucking future photos Simon had had on that table. The first picture was of Nathan, Simon, Alisha and I, and we were all standing in front of a sign announcing _WELCOME TO FABULOUS LAS VEGAS, NEVADA! _The four of us had our arms round each other, and we were grinning away at the camera like we didn't have a single fuck to give in the world.

In the second photo, which still had that same sign as its background, Nathan and I were wrapped in a tight kiss, and I had my middle finger held up to the camera.

Oh my days. This was it. This was what Simon had been speaking about when I asked him about my pregnancy picture!

"_When was this picture taken?!"_

"_Next year, after Christmas but before…something else."_

He'd meant we were going to Vegas! Oh my God, how cool! Well, thank God both pictures had been taken from the chest up. It would have been highly uncomfortable to have to explain to Alisha why I'd put on so much weight in the stomach area.

"I told him I wanted to go to Vegas," Alisha said. "I guess that we do."

"Alisha, I-" I was interrupted by a sudden thud, followed by a clatter of plastic hitting plastic. Alisha and I turned to see Nathan sitting sulkily on the floor, a collapsed stack of chairs around him and the probation worker standing over him, who was wearing a haughty look on his rat-like face.

"Hey, you're not allowed to do that!" Nathan whinged at him, and the probation worker simply strode away.

"Oh for God's sake," I said, shaking my head. "And for the second time today I find myself asking, why am I dating him?" But even as I said it, I knew the real answer. Nathan made me happy, happier than I'd been in a long time. Sure, he grated on my nerves so badly sometimes it felt like someone had stuck a cheese grater in my arm, but I probably wasn't the easiest girlfriend in the world, either.

With Nathan I could be myself- give up the act of the tough girl who didn't give a fuck about anyone but herself. Nathan knew I cared about him, and I knew that he cared about me, whatever illusions he gave otherwise. "Urgh, I'm going to the toilet. I'll be back in a sec." The room had started to seem uncomfortably close, and I really needed to get out and have a breather.

When I returned, Alisha, and Curtis had gathered with Nathan, who was animatedly telling them something in hushed tones. I quickly hurried over to them, wanting to know what was going on.

"…was I supposed to do, poke my eyes out with a stick?" is what I caught from Nathan as I joined the group.

"Why would you need to poke your eyes out with a stick?" I enquired, confused. Clearly I'd joined the conversation at the wrong moment.

"No reason!" Nathan replied quickly, before going on to tell me that he thought it was the girl organising the charity run who had killed him the night before, finishing with, "I'm tellin' ya, the bitch killed me!"

"What 'bitch'? What does she look like?" I asked, and Nathan grabbed my arm and wheeled me around to face the girl. My mouth dropped open in shock when I saw that Nathan was looking at the girl who was flirting with Simon.

Nathan seemed pretty dismayed by this as well. "Aw, Jesus! She's after Barry!" he groaned. Nathan glared over at the girl, who looked over at him as though she'd heard something. When her eyes fell on his face, her little smile was wiped from her face almost immediately. Well, if that wasn't shifty, I didn't know what was.

"Oh, surprised to see me, huh?" Nathan muttered, still glaring at the girl. "Yeah, you killed the wrong guy, you cute, psycho bitch! That's right, I'm on to you!"

"Do you even realise how tempting it is for me to go over there and beat _her _head against a sink?" I said viciously, holding his hand.

"Yeah, d'you hear that?" he continued his muttering. "Didn't think I'd have a girlfriend, did ya? Well I do! She's even more fuckin' psycho than you, and she's gonna kick your cute arse!"

"Calling a girl a psycho is in no way a compliment, Nathan," I pointed out, raising my eyebrows. And for the third time, _why was I dating him_?

* * *

_"Now, I'm bound by the,  
Life you left behind._  
_Your face it haunts, _  
_My once pleasant dreams._  
_Your voice it chased away, _  
_All the sanity in me."  
_**-Evanescence, "My Immortal"**

* * *

**A/N- You all hate me. That's it, isn't it? Two reviews? SERIOUSLY? I'm always so grateful for any review I receive, don't get me wrong. But I asked so nicely last time! I don't want you to think I'm begging for reviews, please don't ever think that! But a few more would be nice…Xx Gee xX**

******PS- I recently added links to what Georgia's tattoos look like. The links are on my profile (all are safe, I checked myself) so make sure you check them out! :D**


	33. Femme Fatale

**A/N- Don'tcha just hate it when something goes wrong? Say for example…your prom dress breaks twelve days before your prom? Well, that happened to me. Stupid thing. Talk about stress! But there's really no need to bore you all with my life. So, thanks a trillion to Beebopalula, Gwenlynn, Guest and Tensa for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Three- Femme Fatale**

Oh, poor, poor Simon. He had finally met a girl who actually liked him, who wasn't trying to sell him out to the police, and we had to go and completely shit all over his parade by telling him that she'd killed Nathan. It was the end of the day, and we were all up on the roof when we eventually got round to telling him. And when we did, he looked so bewildered and crushed that I automatically wanted to take back everything we'd told him.

"What do you mean, 'she killed you'?" he demanded.

Nathan dumped the case of beer he was holding on the floor with a huff. "I mean, she smashed my head against the sink like this-" he seized hold of his hair and started gesturing aggressively. "-until my brains started dribblin' out my ears!"

"Too much information, Nathan," I grimaced.

Simon paused for a moment, apparently searching for something defensive to say. "She wouldn't do that," he said quietly at last.

"How do you know?!" Alisha said ardently, looking really worried. "You don't know anything about her!"

"Come on, man, it all adds up!" said Nathan. "Do the maths!"

"There is no 'maths'!" Simon retorted.

"Right!" Nathan sounded slightly pissed off now, and he started making gestures again. "She was here _plus _no one else was around _times _she caught me leerin' at her semi-naked _divided by _all the weird shit that happens to us _equals _guilty!"

Everyone's eyes flickered to me expectantly once Nathan had finished his announcement, like they thought I was going to flip out. Instead, I just shrugged. "Oh come on. I've got topless photos of Chris Hemsworth and Ryan Reynolds plastered to my bedroom wall. It would be a little double-standard for me to get offended by him sneaking a peek. Assuming that's all it was." I looked poignantly at Nathan.

"'Course it was, love! Nothin' more than a little look," he said dismissively, still looking challengingly at Simon.

"That means absolutely nothing," Simon said tonelessly in response to Nathan's earlier outburst.

"Oh my God, really!" Nathan exploded. "She's a beautiful girl and she's here, in the community centre!"

"So?" Simon disputed, but his voice wavered.

"_So_, I seem to remember a similar scenario that resulted in me havin' sex with an eighty-two-year-old woman."

"Oh, I really could have done with not remembering that," I said, wrinkling my nose at the memory. "Cheers for the reminder."

"You think it's bad for you?" Nathan retorted. "Try bein' me!"

"No thanks, I don't need _that _emotional scarring on top of what I already have," I shot back, before turning back to Simon. "Look, Simon, we're just worried about you. With our group's track record, it's really not looking good."

"There was that shape-shifter girl," chipped in Curtis. "She was mental."

"Yeah, and look wot 'appened wiv you and that probation worker," put in Kelly.

"_And _did you know that some of these marathon runners shit themselves?" Nathan added as a really ridiculous conclusion.

"Well, you're hardly one to talk there, sweetie," I pointed out.

"So you think, that if a girl likes me, there must be something wrong with her?"

"No, that's not what we're saying!" Alisha insisted.

"Isn't it?" Nathan said moronically.

"Shut up!" I almost shouted at him. "Of course that's not what we're saying!"

"I thought that was exactly what we were sayin'."

"Oh my God Nathan!" I exclaimed, kicking him in the shin. "Please just go and jump down a well."

"Ah, come on Georgia! Think about it! What kinda girl is gonna-" I cut off Nathan's sentence by delivering a sharp blow to the back of his head.

"Simon, I'm so sor-" I started to apologise, but Simon just shook his head a couple of times before turning around and mooching back down the stairs. "Simon! Simon, come on! Come back! Simon!"

"Simon!" called Alisha, as did Kelly, but the stairs door swung shut with a bang. I turned back to Nathan, who was looking rather buoyant despite what had just happened, and cracked him round the head again.

"I'm so tempted to kill you again it isn't even funny."

"What? I thought that went rather well, all things considered," he said complacently.

"You dickhead," Alisha said scornfully.

"What did I do?" Nathan sounded genuinely confused.

"Oh for fuck sake," I sighed. "There are these _great _new things, Nathan. They're called feelings. Try and be considerate of other peoples!" I whirled around, accidentally catching Nathan in the face with my long hair, then hurried down the stairs as well.

But when I got down the stairs, I found myself face to face with Simon talking to the Psycho Bitch. I quickly pressed myself back behind the vending machine, straining to hear their conversation. I only caught the end of their conversation, but it was enough to make me bite my tongue in horror.

"…go for a drink with me?" he asked her.

"I'd love to."

_Well, shite, _I thought.

* * *

Everyone always dispersed rather quickly once we were changed. Alisha looked almost positively heartbroken. Stealing one last longing glance at Simon, she grabbed her bag and almost sprinted out of the locker room. Curtis swagged off soon after this, looking smugly happy about something, followed by Simon, who had all the eagerness of a puppy being taken to a park, then Kelly also left.

That left me and Nathan. Things had become vaguely awkward between us since the night before, even with that morning's outburst of affection. I'd forgiven him for what he had said to me, and he had forgiven me for how I'd acted. I guessed now all that was left to do was kiss and make up. The fun kind of making up.

"Hey," I said alluringly, wrapping my arms around Nathan's neck. "Are you coming back to mine, then? I told you I'd make last night up to you."

"Well, I'd hate to turn down such a perfect-soundin' offer," Nathan said with a grin, putting his hands on my hips and manoeuvring me backwards, pressing my back up against the lockers. "Buuuut, there's some stuff on TV tonight that I really wanna watch, so I'm afraid, as much as I hate to say no, it'll have to wait. _Or_," Nathan suddenly grinned an even bigger grin. "You can just stay with me tonight. I'm sure we can find _somethin_' to do durin' the breaks."

"Are you sure?" I teased. "I mean, I don't want to get bored." Nathan suddenly slid one of his hands up my back, positioning it at the back of my neck. He tipped my head forward and passionately kissed me. I leaned towards him, tightening my arms around his neck as his other arm encircled my waist, pulling me closer to him so our hips were touching.

"Well I guess I could stay," I said slightly breathlessly. "I can't be bothered to walk home anyway. But if I'm staying the night here, I'll need some clothes. These jeans are cutting off the circulation to my upper body."

"Well, you'll work somethin' out," Nathan said casually. "Come on, there's one of them nature documentaries on. TV's in the probation office."

"Okay. Give me a second, though," I said. "I need a piss."

"Lovely," he said, but he gave me another kiss. "Hurry up then." He removed his arm from around my waist and wandered out of the locker room, but not before he slapped me playfully on the arse.

Right. Well, okay then. That hadn't been quite the reconciliation that I'd had in mind. Did I feel rejected? Yes, slightly. I wondered if he was playing me the way I'd treated him, though without all the aggression I'd thrown in. Ha, I knew _that _wouldn't last long. Put Nathan and the chance of sex together in a room and it's gonna happen. _Fucking TV shows my arse, _I thought, thinking of a way to get Nathan to drop his guard. Then one hit me. But first I really did have to pee.

I quickly went, washed my hands, and hurried back into the changing rooms. I opened up Nathan's locker and pulled out one of his black t-shirts that I liked, and also his black zip-up hoodie. I removed my vest and jeans, throwing them in my own locker. I pulled Nathan's t-shirt over my head, and put on his hoodie as well. Because Nathan was quite a bit taller than me, the t-shirt and hoodie fell to just the top of my thighs, but the pink lace of my knickers was still slightly poking out. Because my legs were cold, I also pulled on the spare pair of knee-length black socks I kept in my locker just in case. Another layer of eyeliner and mascara and a tug of a brush through my hair and I was done. One final quick look in the mirror told me that there would be no way Nathan could say no to me now.

I looked out the door of the locker rooms to check that nobody else was around. I didn't want anyone else to see me dressed like a complete whore! When I couldn't see anyone about, I quickly darted across the corridor into the main hall, checking that Nathan was in the probation office so I didn't make a complete tit of myself.

Nope, there he was, his back facing the glass wall of the office. God, how could someone be so enthralled by a nature documentary? I'd practically made a vow not to learn anything new since I got chucked out of school, and I classed watching documentaries as 'learning'!

I opened the door to the office and leaned on the doorframe, folding my arms. "Nathan?" I said in the most seductive voice I possessed, causing him to spin around in the office chair he was in. When he saw what I was- or rather, wasn't- wearing, he smiled slowly and shrewdly. "Do you still want me?"

"What the fuck?" The smile vanished, confusion replacing it. "What d'you mean?"

"I don't know," I said, slowly starting to walk towards him. I saw his eyes taking in the sight of his t-shirt riding up the very tops of my legs, exposing the bottom of my underwear. "I mean, what just happened in the locker room…it felt to me like, I dunno, like you were taunting me or something. Is it because of yesterday? Because if it is, I'm sorry." By this point, I was standing toe-to-toe with him, my socked feet touching his Conversed ones. I placed my hands on the small space on the seat- either side of his legs- and leaned forward, the neckline of my/Nathan's t-shirt dipping slightly off me. I saw Nathan steal a look down the t-shirt, and that was all it took for him to pull me onto his lap and kiss me again.

I knew we were in complete plain view of absolutely anyone who could have walked through the front doors, but at that precise moment in time not a single fuck was given. My arms were tight around Nathan's neck, his were around my waist, and he was kissing me and kissing me. It had started off relatively gentle for me and Nathan, but it was rapidly becoming deeper, hotter, more intense. I coiled my hands into his curls, and his started travelling down from my waist towards my arse, slipping under my t-shirt.

I don't know what the hell possessed me to say what I did next, but it was like kissing Nathan had caused every single inhibition I had to melt away. "Fuck me," I murmured when we broke apart for air, causing Nathan's eyes to widen in shock. Hell, I was shocked with myself.; I'd never been that forward before. He soon got over it, however, by pressing his lips firmly to mine and picking me up as he stood up himself. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me over to the clear desk by the TV.

I lay back on the desk, ignoring the feeling of the wood pressing into my back. I could feel Nathan's weight pressing into my body, feel his hands- which had pushed my t-shirt up, exposing the skin up to my waist- on my hips. His hands then travelled down from my hips, skimming over my arse and down my thighs, almost forcing my legs to tighten around his waist.

God knows what would have happened next, but that was when I heard the front door to the community centre open and close with a sharp crash. The sound jolted me out of my lust-fuelled haze, and I quickly pushed Nathan back from me, untangling my legs from around him with a panicked hiss of, "Shit, someone's here!"

"Wha?" Nathan mumbled, looking vaguely dumbfounded.

"I said, someone's here! Like, in this hall here! Fuck! What if they'd seen us?! Jesus, we are _so_ not having much luck with this!" I exclaimed, quickly standing up and rearranging my top so that it did actually cover my arse. Just in the nick of time too, as at that precise moment, Psycho Bitch (no wait, Simon had told us her name was…ah shit. What was it? Jane? Jenny? Jennifer? Jessica! Her name was Jessica!) and some other charity runner dude walked past the probation office. They both cast us strange looks (so they'd managed to work out what had been going on exactly thirty seconds before they'd walked past) before sitting down and going through something on a clipboard that Psycho- no, _Jessica_- was holding.

"So," I said, clearing my throat almost awkwardly. "Shall we see what's on TV?"

Nathan groaned. "Fuckin' cute, smiley Psycho Bitch!" he whined. "First she kills me, then she cockblocks me!" He thumped down on the black office chair, moodily rolling it across the office so it was positioned in front of the TV. "It's not fuckin' fair, Georgia!"

"I know, babes, I know," I tried to say soothingly, dragging another chair over to the TV. "All in good time though. It's probably a good thing to be honest. Better hear them come now rather than a minute later and they see us doing fuck knows what." I pulled my legs up and crossed them over Nathan's lap. He placed his hand on my knee and started absent-mindedly stroking my leg from my knee to almost the top of my thigh, and that was how we sat for the next hour or so.

"Why the _fuck _are we watching a documentary about spiders?" I demanded, cringing at the image of a trapdoor spider dragging some poor, unsuspecting fly into its web-hole. "You _know_ I'm arachnophobic!"

"You're such a baby," Nathan teased.

"Bitch please. If I'm such a baby, how is it that I've managed to spend the last couple of months getting covered in blood and killing random people without having a complete and utter mental breakdown?"

"'Cause if you have any more mental breakdowns you'll end up in a mental asylum?" he suggested mockingly.

"Shut up!" I said, sharply kicking his chair so that it wheeled away from me.

"Jesus!" Nathan yelped as the chair slammed into the wall with the window. "Hey," he said suddenly. "Check this out." He was looking out the window at something, so I got up and walked over, curious.

"What?" I said, frowning. "All I see is Psycho Bitch- fuck, _Jessica_- and that guy doing mindless, boring shit." But as I looked closer, I could see that they weren't behaving like a normal pair of friends. If anything, it looked like they were flirting. "That _whore_!" I exclaimed. "So she's playing this dude along just like she is Simon!"

Nathan and I leaned closer to the glass, trying to be discrete as we snooped. Jessica and the guy were laughing and grinning at each other stupidly, the guy teasingly snatching a piece of paper out of Jessica's hand, causing her to giggle again.

The guy then tried to put his arm around her waist, and Jessica's behaviour suddenly changed very dramatically. The smile vanished from her face, replaced by a look of shocked horror. I faintly heard her ask him what he was doing (the office door was still open) and he replied that he fancied her.

Well, this had apparently been the wrong thing to say. Jessica stood up abruptly and cried, "Get off me!", pushing the guy away. After ordering the guy to stay away from her, she turned on her heel and huffily marched away, leaving the guy on his own.

"Jesus Christ," I muttered. "What the fuck was that all about?"

"And I thought _you_ were uptight before we got together," Nathan said quietly.

"Oi!" I said, slapping him upside the head. "Don't you think that was just a little bit suspicious?! She was totally flirting with him until he tried to touch her!"

"So? What's your point?"

"Oh for fuck sake. You know trying to explain things to you is like trying to explain stuff to a child? Hello?! We need to follow them!"

"Oh, right, right, right. Yeah, totally got that."

"You're an idiot." I shook my head at him before standing up and quietly tiptoeing out of the office. Nathan was close behind me, so I reached back and held his hand, pulling him forward so that he was a bit more in front of me. Hey, this chick was a psychopathic killer! Better Nathan get killed than me! At least he'd come back!

It was coming up to six forty-five, so the community centre was starting to get dark, an unpleasant grey light washing over the corridors. Hiding behind one of the indoor pillars, Nathan and I watched as the guy got up and made his way out of the main hall, going down the corridor that held a couple of toilets and some storerooms. We waited a few more seconds, then hurried quickly but quietly after him.

Jesus, how did people always manage to go missing in this place? Nathan and I had taken our eyes off the dude for literally thirty seconds, and he had completely vanished! As we wandered down about the third dimly lit corridor, I could almost hear the ominous music you heard in movies playing. _God, I watch too many horror films_, I thought, tightening my grip on Nathan's hand. I wasn't scared as such, just slightly on edge.

There was only one door down this corridor that wasn't open, and that was the door into one of the toilets. Nathan and I stared at the door for a moment, before he looked at me and nodded. Slowly, he moved forward, outstretching his arm as he did so. I bit my lip anxiously as he placed his hand on the door handle…and discovered that the door was locked.

"Well that was an anti-climax," I said, secretly kind of relieved that it hadn't been a horror movie moment where the killer jumps out and stabs you in the forehead. Nathan and I continued to make our way up the corridor, moving into the area where yet more disused storage rooms were. I'd never noticed how eerily quiet the community centre was before, but then again I hadn't actually been in the community centre much past five o'clock before.

However, as we moved into the little alcove that held the other storage rooms…

"Argh!" Nathan yelled as something- and something big- fell into him, slamming him against the wall with a loud grunting noise. I was so startled that I opened my mouth and let out a piercing shriek, a shriek that continued emanating from my mouth when I realised what the 'something' was.

It was Runner Guy, the dude who had made a pass at Jessica. He was now slumped against the floor, blood dribbling out of his very slit throat. So, the Psycho Bitch had struck again.

"Jesus!" shouted Nathan, breathing heavily.

I bent down and pressed two of my fingers over the guy's neck, feeling for a pulse. All I got was a very bloody hand and zero pulse. "Oh my God!" I moaned. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Nathan, blood. There's blood. So much blood. It's on my hand. He's dead. Like, deader-than-a-dead-thing dead. She killed him. Psycho Bitch killed him. She sliced his throat. Oh my God."

The guy was flat-out on the floor. He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. His hands were coated in his own blood, presumably from where he'd tried to stem the flow from his neck. The rust-and-salt smell was threatening to suffocate me, and I quickly covered my eyes with my hands so I didn't have to look anymore, but I still peeked through my fingers.

"It's alright, it's fine," Nathan said, putting his hand on my shoulder, but he didn't sound fine. He sounded totally freaked out. "I'm sure it's nothin', he's probably just…unconscious. Yeah, that's it! Unconscious!" He clicked a couple of times at dead-but-maybe-unconscious guy. "Hey! Hey, what should we do?! Huh?!" He removed his hand from my shoulder and started slapping at dead-but-maybe-unconscious guy's arm. "What should we do!?" The guy didn't move, confirming that he was indeed dead.

"Holy motherfucking shit!" I whimpered. "We need help with this! We can't let Simon go for a drink with that psychopathic psycho!"

"What the fuck are we supposed to do then?!"

"I…er…I…call the others! Yeah, like Kelly and Curtis and Alisha! Maybe one of them will know what to do!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Nathan nodded, and I could see that he, like me, was shaking slightly.

"I'll try Kelly first, you try Curtis!" I said, pulling my iPhone out of my bra. I quickly scrolled down to Kelly's number, and pressed Call. However, I was taken straight to her voicemail.

"_Awight mate? It's Kelly, right? Can't take ya call so jost leave a message, yeah_?"

"Shit, Kelly isn't answering!"

"Yeah, neither's Curtis," said Nathan, already keying in another number.

"Who are you calling now?!" I asked.

"Alisha," he replied. There was a ten second silence, then he suddenly said hastily, "No one else is answerin' their phone!" I let out a sigh of relief. Alisha had answered the phone. "You know the cute smiley popular girl who murdered me!? Well she's just killed some other guy! He's dead!" Fuck, I'd never heard Nathan so scared before, and the fact that he was so scared was making me panic even more. Any second now my power would kick in and I'd have to stand perfectly still to avoid turning myself into dynamite!

All of a sudden, completely unexpectedly, the dead guy on the floor sprung up into a sitting position, a dreadful gurgling noise rasping out of his mouth. I screamed again; long, drawn out and high pitched. Nathan had to gently clamp his hand over my mouth and muffle the noise so he could shriek, "No! No, he's alive!" into the phone. But the guy made a final gagging-type noise and slumped back down to the floor, eyes glazed open, definitely dead. The slit in his throat seemed even larger now, like it had been torn open even more, and blood was steadily seeping from it now, threatening to make me vomit even more.

"No, no, he's dead again!" Nathan said.

"Oh for God's sake, give me the phone!" I hissed, wrenching it from his hand. "Alisha, it's me. It's bad. Really, really bad."

"Simon's meeting her for a drink!" Alisha said urgently.

"I know! Shit, we haven't got much time! Meet me and Nathan in the bar's car park in fifteen minutes, stat! And see if you can get hold of Curtis and Kelly, 'cause we can't!" I waited for Alisha to agree, then hung up the phone and chucked it back to Nathan. "We've gotta go. But first I need my jeans."

* * *

Nathan and I arrived at the car park five or so minutes before Alisha did. We had hidden down behind a parked car where we had a perfect view of the door to the bar, and also to most of the rest of the car park. When I saw Alisha walking past, I quickly hurried over and planted my hand on her shoulder, causing her to squeal in surprise.

"Oh, fuck. Sorry, Alisha," I said quietly. "Did you get hold of anyone? Curtis?"

"His phone's still switched off!" she replied, sounding anxious. "Did you call Kelly?"

"Her's is still switched off too," I said with a sigh.

Nathan suddenly let out a gasp. "You don't think they're-" He proceeded to make a thrusting gesture.

"No, Nathan, we don't think that at all," I said, placing a hand on his chest to make him stop.

"Where are they!?" Alisha demanded, looking around the car park.

I assumed she meant Simon and Psycho Bitch Jessica. "They're still in the bar. I don't see how, seeing as that Jessica girl looked really simple-minded. I'm amazed she can keep a conversation going for more than five minutes." Alisha and Nathan looked vaguely shocked by what I'd said. "What? The motherfucker killed my boyfriend, I'm allowed to be a bitch!"

"How long have they been in there?" Alisha asked.

"Dunno," answered Nathan. "But I can't see her makin' a move till they leave." Nathan put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and stared in awkward amusement at me and Alisha. "So who'd a thunk it, huh?" he said, punching Alisha lightly on the shoulder. "Us three teamin' up on somethin' like this."

"A rescue mission so one of our friends doesn't get brutally hacked to pieces?" I said with a roll of my eyes. "Yeah, completely unbelievable."

"This about the least weird thing that's happened to me recently," added Alisha.

"I dunno, I can think of a few things…" I trailed off. "Look, the weird shit that _has _happened to us isn't important compared to the weird shit that _is _happening to us. I say we just wait here until we see the two of them come out of the bar."

So wait we did. God knows _how _long we were waiting for. All I knew is that in the time we'd been waiting there, my knees had gone dead, I had gravel imbedded in my palms from where I'd been leaning on the ground, and I had a cut on my chin from where I'd lost my balance on the balls of my feet and slammed face-first into the concrete.

"So why _are_ you here?" Nathan suddenly asked Alisha. "I mean, Georgia and him have been all Nerds United since practically Day One, so that makes sense, but it's not like you and him are big pals."

"What, and you are?" Alisha retorted. "Why are _you _here?"

"Well maybe I like him more than I let on."

"Well, maybe I do to."

"The little bastard gets under your skin, doesn't he?" Nathan said with a small smile. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself going, "Aww!" because I doubted that would go down too well with either Alisha or Nathan, neither of whom tended to be the kind of person to show their emotions.

Thankfully, it was also at that point that I looked at the bar door, which opened, Simon and Psycho Bitch wandering out of it.

"Guys," I muttered. "Check it out." Alisha and Nathan both sharply turned their heads in the direction of the bar, and the three of us quickly ducked down by a pillar to avoid being seen as the two 'lovebirds' walked past. Oh Jesus, they were already holding hands. I'd've vomited if I wasn't torn between fearing for Simon's life and being happy he'd managed to go on a date and not totally fuck it up. We couldn't hear a word that Simon and Psycho Bitch were saying, but the three of us slid soundlessly along the walls after them, desperate to keep ourselves concealed from their sight.

Jessica said something to Simon that I still couldn't hear, then pulled him along deeper into the car park. This set off alarm bells in my mind, reminding me of the car park scene from _Scream 4_, where Sidney's publicist is stabbed in the hospital car park by Ghostface then thrown off the roof.

"Shit!" I hissed. "She's making her move! Go! Go, go, go!" We scuttled after the two of them, ducking down behind any available car until we eventually remained hidden against one particularly old car, peeping over the hood so we could see what was going on with Simon and Jessica.

The two of them were stood by a wall opposite the car we were behind. Psycho Bitch Jessica was leaning back against the wall, then she suddenly leaned down and gently kissed Simon on the mouth.

"She's like one of those evil bitch spiders!" Nathan said quietly. "They lure ya into their web, they shag ya, they kill ya, and then they eat their own faeces!"

"What?!" me and Alisha hissed simultaneously, looking at him with our eyebrows raised. "Where does that even apply here?!" I continued.

It was slightly (or should I say, extremely) awkward standing behind that car watching the two of them make out. It was like watching _Saw_: it was creepy to watch, but you couldn't look away until the image got too much that you had to run out into the garden for fresh air and ended up accidentally vomiting into your best friend's fishpond. Not that that had ever happened to me…

But the two of them did break apart, and Jessica said something to Simon that, again, we couldn't hear. She wandered off in the other direction, and Simon started walking away as well, a ridiculously adorable smile plastered to his face. Oh no. Not the smile. I didn't want to do the 'shitting on Simon's parade' thing again.

It was also at that point that we realised Simon was getting dangerously close to where we were hidden, so the three of us quickly ducked down behind the car completely. At first, it seemed like he was just going to keep walking, past us and out of the car park.

However, his footsteps then began to slow, and he only took a few more steps before he came to a complete stop. _Just keep walking, _I thought._ Just keep walking, just keep walking! Goddamn it, why can't I have Jedi mind tricks!? _When he didn't turn around immediately, I almost thought it had worked. But that thought was totally splintered apart when Simon turned around and saw Nathan, Alisha and me crouched down behind the car. _Well, fuck_.

"Hey man," Nathan said with a smile, waving at him as Alisha and I just grinned awkwardly.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked as we quickly stood up.

"Just…hanging out," replied Alisha casually.

"We're on our way for er…ice cream?" I said, but I must have used possibly the most unconvincing tone ever.

"Were you following me?" Simon demanded suspiciously.

"We could ask you the same thing!" Nathan exclaimed, and I elbowed him in the ribs. Simon raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Okay, yes," Nathan confessed.

"We were worried about you!" said Alisha earnestly, walking over to Simon.

"You don't need to be," Simon replied brusquely.

"Er, hello?! Earth to Simon!" I exploded. "That little psycho bitch has already killed Nathan! Do you really want that to become you?! Because as your best friend, I completely have to right to say HELL. TO. THE. NO!"

"Jessica won't hurt me," Simon insisted. "She isn't a killer."

"Yeah, well tell that to the dead guy at the community centre!" retorted Nathan. "Oh wait, you can't! Because your new girlfriend killed him!"

"Do you need anymore fucking proof, Simon?" I asked, seriously on the verge of losing my shit. I held up my hand, which was still stained with the runner guy's blood. "See this? This blood came from a guy who came into the community centre with Jessica, fully alive with his throat in tact, and is now lying down some corridor with his throat practically torn open! So, you're coming back to the community centre with us. _Now_, Simon! Move it!"

I just hoped this would be enough to make him see the light.

* * *

"_She__'__s one of those girls,  
Nothin__'__ but trouble,  
Just one look,  
And now you__'__re seein__' double.__"  
_**-Avril Lavigne, ****"****One Of Those Girls****"**

* * *

**A/N- Chapter Thirty-Three. Wow. To be honest, I never thought I'd make it past Chapter Ten. I tend to lose interest in most of my fics after that. But d'you know **_**why **_**I haven't lost interest? You guys. You all make me feel so goddamn validated! So review, if you want! Love you all! Xx Gee xX**

**Links to how Georgia's tattoos look are on my profile :)**


	34. Capes And Cowls

**A/N- OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I'VE PASSED ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS! THIS IS INCREDIBLE! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! Y'know, I remember when this story was barely getting a review per chapter, and now look how far we've come! Thanks amazingly to Beebopalula, Guest, Leah, India Mon (you were the hundredth reviewer! Yaay! Have a virtual cookie on me!), Becca and Abmora for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Four- Capes And Cowls**

SHIT! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, fuck! The body! Where the fuck was the body?! We'd left it here, right here! How could it be gone?! Dead bodies did not just get up and walk away! That was a job for zombies. Shit. What if he'd turned into a zombie and was waiting round the corner to nom on our brains, _Resident Evil_-style?! _Get. A. Fucking. Grip! Think rationally! Of course he's not a zombie, _I thought, staring in despair at the empty spot on the floor.

"Oh, motherfucker!" I exclaimed angrily, kicking at thing air. "What the fuck is going on!?"

"He was lyin' right here!" Nathan insisted, gesturing at the empty spot. "Blood was all pourin' out of his throat, and he was all gurglin' and shit!" Nathan felt the need to demonstrate said gurgling.

"His throat looked like someone had gone at it with a scythe or something!" I added.

"So where is he now?" Simon asked expectantly.

"Er…well…erm…" I began, trailing off when I realised I had no fucking clue what to say.

"She's moved the body!" Alisha stated.

"Right!" Nathan said in agreement. "Who leaves a dead body lyin' around to be discovered? We never do and we're not exactly the most competent killers!"

"Yeah. What they said," I said.

"How did she do that when she was in the bar with me?"

"Well…maybe she had help!" I asserted. "Killers have help most of the time. Haven't you ever watched the _Scream _movies?"

"No," Simon replied in the snappiest tone I'd ever heard him use to me.

"Why would I make it up?" Nathan demanded.

"Maybe you're jealous."

Nathan scoffed. "Look at me, beautiful. Look at you, not so much."

"And, FYI, what does he have to be jealous _about_, exactly?" I challenged. "I mean, Simon, I love you, and I respect you and all that shit, but seriously? Nathan's got me. And not to be a bitch, but I'm better-looking than Jessica, I'm probably funnier than Jessica, and my boobs are about three cup sizes bigger than hers. My arrogance aside, however, just think about it. Besides, why would _I _make it up?"

"And why am I here?" Alisha added gently.

Simons eyes shifted between Alisha and me. "I don't know," he finally said. He suddenly pointed accusingly at Nathan. "You stay away from Jessica."

"You stay away from her!" Nathan shot back.

"No!" Simon said tersely.

"Well I think you should!" From the tone he used, Nathan clearly hadn't expected Simon to stick to his game.

Simon shook his head in exasperation and irritation, before turning around and just…walking away. The three of us stared after him. I called his name a couple of times, but he just ignored me. _Fine then. Bastard. _All we were trying to do was save his life, but he couldn't appreciate that then sucks to him.

I felt so sorry for Simon. He felt so lonely in the world that he was clinging on to the nearest female that paid him any form of romantic interest. But it was wrong! Simon wasn't supposed to be with Jessica! He was supposed to be with Alisha! He _needed _to be with Alisha! I knew that, and Alisha knew that, but we couldn't fucking say anything because we'd completely alter the dimensions of time, and I could see in Alisha's eyes that it broke her heart.

"Jesus Christ," I groaned, dragging my hands down my face. "Now I just feel bad. Does anyone else have that big heavy stone of guilt weighing down their heart, or is that just me?" And this was exactly when I hated sentimentality.

* * *

_Smug bastards_, I thought to myself, handing what must have been the tenth charity runner their running number, or whatever the hell the pieces of paper they clipped to their tank tops were called. Simon and I had been dumped with the task of giving each runner their number as they headed to the starting line, and, fucking hell, was it boring.

Things were very, very awkward between Simon and me. A frosty silence hung in the air between us, as both of us could tell exactly what the other was thinking. He knew I still thought his new girlfriend was a complete and utter mental case who belonged in an asylum of some kind, and I knew that he thought I, along with Nathan and Alisha, was stirring up shit between him and Jessica because we were jealous or something.

It was a first, I must say. I was trying to avoid making eye contact with him, for fear that if I did, he'd fix me with that look off his that automatically made me want to apologise to him, and there was no way on God's green Earth that I was doing that. I was trying to stop him getting brutally murdered, and I didn't give a single fuck if that got in the way of him maybe losing his virginity.

Simon was also avoiding eye contact with me, like he was scared I was going to go off on one at him or something. Every so often, one of us would sneak a sideways glance at the other in between handing over the numbers, but whenever we made eye contact we'd quickly look away.

We remained in this uneasy silence for around about fifteen minutes, the only noises being made by either of us being the odd cough or throat clearing. Eventually though, the awkwardness got too much for me; I was going to crack and apologise, I could feel it. I made a strange choking noise in the back of my throat- out of either irritation or panic, I couldn't tell- and dumped the remaining papers in my hands on top of Simon's pile that he was holding and practically sprinted away from him. Just in time too, as I saw Jessica walk up and start a conversation with him. If I'd stayed, I wouldn't have been able to hold my tongue on what I thought of her.

The rest of the group was standing around a small table that had been set up roughly halfway around the 'running track' (IE- the bank of the lake) so they could hand each runner a cup of water as they passed.

As I drew closer to the others, I could hear Nathan explaining to Kelly and Curtis what had gone on the night before. It sounded like he was having one of his 'whiney bitch' attacks again.

"…somethin' seriously wrong with this girl!" I heard him say as I joined them. When he saw clocked eyes on me, he looped his arm around my shoulders and said, "Georgia was there too! She saw it! C'mon, love, tell 'em!"

"Well, assuming you're talking about Mr Torn Throat," I said. "It was fucking disgusting. That psycho bitch literally hacked his throat practically in two; I'm amazed she didn't decapitate the poor bugger."

"Did _you_ actually seeher kill him?" Curtis asked. Something told me from the way he spoke that he'd already asked Nathan this question.

"Well, no," I frowned. "But come on! We were the only people in the community centre! Literally, just me, Nathan, her and the dead guy! Who else could have possibly killed him!? Look, we just need to find a way to convince Simon that his new girlfriend is more psycho than a crossbreed of The Joker and Emperor Palpatine from _Star Wars_, and that he needs to dump her on her arse ASAP before she tries to behead _him_!" The others suddenly widened their eyes slightly, looking at something behind me. Sensing the perfect not-so-comic timing, I sighed, "Simon's right behind me, isn't he." I didn't even bother voicing it as a question. Alisha nodded, so I turned around to face him, plastering a huge, teeth-baring grin onto my face.

"Hey, buddy," I said cheerfully, slugging him on the shoulder. I wondered if he had actually heard what I'd said, because he was wearing the same smile he'd been wearing the night before after Jessica had kissed him, that adorable yet vague look he had.

"Jessica's invited us to a fancy dress party tonight," he informed us, handing over a small stack of invites. Nobody appeared to be particularly riveted by this piece of information, and Simon's smile wavered. _No! Enough with the shitting on Simon's parade! _I thought, so I quickly took the top invitation, stashing it in my pocket. I actually loved fancy dress parties. Hell, I just loved dressing up. I had three costumes at home, ones from the three ComicCons I'd gone to in the last two years. _Ooh, which one should I pick?_

"Y'know what, you were right, man," Nathan suddenly said to him. "I was jealous. I'm jealous of the way you're free to play the field with the ladies while I've gotta remain tied down and faithful to Georgie over here." He removed his arm from my shoulders and transferred it to around my waist while I facepalmed. "And I'm jealous of your, er, neat hair and your…the strange starin' the ladies seem to love so much. And I hope that you and er, um…" He trailed off, clicking a few times as he searched for the name I was relatively shocked he'd forgotten. The bitch had killed him, after all.

"Jessica," Simon supplied.

"_Jessica_! Lovely, lovely Jessica! I hope you'll be very happy together."

"Well, maybe you and Georgia will be able to work out your problems," Simon replied.

Problems?! What problems!? The only 'problem' between Nathan and me was the fact that we hadn't slept together in a few days. "Excuse me?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "To what problems are you referring?"

"Yeah. Me and her are perfecto, cheers for the concern and shit," Nathan said breezily, putting his other arm around my waist. "Besides, even if we weren't, there's a whole line of girls just waitin' to mend my broken heart." The ridiculously casual way in which he said this made it extremely clear that he was bullshitting big time.

Simon had evidently worked this out himself, as he said, "Really? Like who?", raising an eyebrow as he did so.

"Er…" Nathan apparently hadn't been expecting Simon to ask him this, and I seriously had to fight the impulse to laugh at him. "There was this one bird that really stood out. Her name's Mo…nique…ca. Mo-nique-ca. She's French."

"And she is fucking ugly," I said, joining in. "Besides, I've got my own back-up boy in case this relationship goes completely tits up. His name's Clark, and he's from er, Kansas. He's a transfer student who used to go to my sixth form. Damn, the way that boy wears a checked shirt." Well, I fucked that up completely. Clark from Kansas?! Simon would see straight away that I'd referenced _Superman_! Well, to be more specific, _Smallville_.

"Well, maybe you could both invite them to the party?" advocated Simon, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement.

"Bad idea, Si," I said quickly. "Clark's gone back to Kansas for the summer. He's, er, helping out on his parents' farm."

"And Mo-nique-ca's in France. Y'know, what with her bein' French," added Nathan. "Plus, it'd be a bad idea to put her and Georgia in the same room. You know what Georgia's like with the jealousy. The whole buildin' would go up in flames! But seein' as this party is happenin' ten feet from my bedroom, I will see you there!"

Flashing another smile, Simon handed Nathan an invitation before wandering off back in the direction of the community centre. His shoulders were squared, and his head was held high. There was a newfound layer of confidence in his walk, confidence that had only started showing literally yesterday. It looked like Simon really was getting closer to becoming Superhoodie.

The second Simon was out of earshot, the others rounded on me and Nathan.

"Are you two serious?!" Alisha demanded.

"When am I ever serious?" scoffed Nathan. "But we need to be there! To keep an eye on her! Think about it; it's a fancy dress party! It's dark, we'll all be wearin' masks! It's the perfect opportunity to commit murder! And incest!"

"Murder, yes," I said musingly. "Incest, no. If she's wearing a mask, nobody'll know it's her. It's the perfect strategy. We of all people should know that."

"Who's Moooniqueca?" Kelly suddenly asked mockingly. All of us burst out laughing.

"That is the _worst _made-up name I've ever heard!" sniggered Curtis, shaking his head at Nathan.

"Y'know, names were never my strong point," Nathan replied thoughtfully. "But I think the whole French thing sold it."

"Bitch please. If anything sold it, it was Clark from Kansas. My four years of GCSE and A Level Drama really paid off," I said smugly. "There are reasons I got As in both."

"Fucking hell," muttered Curtis. "I can't believe you two sometimes."

"That's because we're unbelievable, my friend," I replied. "Think about it. You put people like me and Nathan together in a relationship, we're not exactly going to be the most serious of couples now, are we?" As if to prove a point, Nathan suddenly threw his cup of water over his shoulder, splattering a passing runner straight in the face with it.

"Prick!" the runner spat, wiping his face.

"Sorry mate!" Nathan called to the runner as the rest of us spluttered with laughter. Even Alisha was laughing, a noise I hadn't heard her make since her Simon had died.

"So we've all agreed, right?" I said when the laughter had died down. "We all go to the party tonight, and we save Simon's arse should it come to that. Capiche?" I said it with such ferocity that nobody did anything other than nod. "I mean, come on. It can't be that bad."

* * *

"Oh my days, I am so buzzed for this party!" I exclaimed as Nathan and I headed to the locker rooms at the end of the day.

"I thought you only wanted to go to play Wonder Woman or whatever the fuck she's called and save Barry from bein' savagely murdered," he teased.

"Well, yeah, there's that. _But_, it also gives me an excuse to wear one of my cosplay costumes that I haven't worn in ages!"

"What the fuck is cosplay?"

"Seriously? You don't know what cosplay is?" I sighed, shaking my head. "Cosplay is the official type of costume from a movie or video game, although they are often quite revealing. I have three of them."

"Oh, and which one will you be wearin'?" Shock and horror, I had clearly captured Nathan's attention with the 'revealing' part.

"I'm not sure. I was planning on coming as Juliet Starling from _Lollipop Chainsaw_, but since everyone seems to be set on this superhero idea I probably won't wear that. Plus, it seems a little cold to wear the micro-miniskirt, crop top and thigh-high socks that make up her cheerleading uniform, don't you think." I also really couldn't be bothered to lug around the wooden chainsaw that tied the whole outfit together.

"Well if you got cold, I could find a way to warm you up," Nathan said suggestively. "That costume sounds hot."

"Probably because I look hot in it," I bantered. "But whatever, Juliet isn't a superhero, so I'm gonna have to go with one of my other ones."

"And what might they be?"

"I'm not telling you. I want it to be a surprise." That, and I hadn't actually decided which one to go with. "Anyway, I just want to get home so I can get changed." Nathan and I rounded the corner, and came face-to-face with Kelly sitting down on one of the orange plastic chairs. Automatically, I picked up that something was wrong. Kelly's figure was slumped forward, hands clasped in front of her and head bent over them. Call it women's intuition, but I knew we should just leave her alone.

Nathan, however, did _not _possess this intuition, as he perkily announced to her, "We should be gettin' into our costumes!" and flopped down on the chair next to her. I quickly sat down in the one on her other side to defend anything stupid that Nathan said.

"What's up with you?" he demanded when she didn't answer.

"Kelly, are you alright?" I asked her gently, glaring at Nathan, who mouthed _What? _at me.

"M'fine," she answered quietly.

"You haven't been this quiet since you got turned bald!" Nathan mocked, reaching out to touch her hair.

"Nathan, just leave her!" I said dangerously, looking anxiously at Kelly who exclaimed irately, "Can ya jost leave os alone, yeah?" I stood up and clicked my fingers at Nathan in indication that he should get up. He raised his hands in a surrendering gesture and stood up. I grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit and dragged him into the locker room.

"Okay, clearly I've done somethin' very wrong," he said. "Er…mind explain' what I did wrong?"

"Oh for fuck sake," I said heavily. "Sometimes I think you really are emotionally blind."

* * *

Well here we were, at the party. I took it all back- it could be very bad. The balloons and streamers dangling from the ceiling made the community centre look reminiscent of a young child's birthday party, I hated dubstep music which was what the soundtrack to the party mainly consisted of, and there were so many people here I could barely breathe.

The superhero theme we'd decided on seemed ridiculously obvious now we were actually in the party.

Kelly had opted for tight faux-leather leggings and a halterneck top in a floaty material that was a plum colour with a black feathery mask. Alisha had donned a royal blue and black catsuit that made her look slightly like Invisible Woman from _Fantastic Four_, aside from the fact Alisha was wearing a black bobbed wig rather than a long blonde one.

Curtis was wearing a simple black male jumpsuit with a matching cape, and Simon had gone with a costume that seemed more Mexican wrestler than superhero. Nathan had really gone to town, wearing an orange and black number complete with fake foam muscles and a strip of black fabric over his eyes.

Me, I was dressed in my _Arkham City_ Catwoman costume that I'd worn last year when I had gone to the San Diego ComicCon with my friend Emma. It was pretty accurate, right down to the whip at my hip, the claw-tipped gloves on my hands, the cat-eared hood on my head, the thief-vision goggles over the hood and the indecent amount of cleavage I had on display. Then again, it bloody well should have been accurate, given that it cost me just under a hundred and fifty pounds for it!

I had planned on wearing my Supergirl costume, as Catwoman wasn't technically a superhero, but when I had put the long-sleeved blue crop top on I had discovered it had a massive rip under the arm. So I'd had to settle with Catwoman which, to be fair, was a lot sexier than Supergirl.

"Does anyone else feel like a total cunt?" Nathan asked bluntly as the six of us looked around the room. Everyone made murmurs of agreement except for me, as I freakin' loved being able to dress up again.

"If it's any consolation babe, you look like a bit of a cunt too," I yelled over the music, patting him comfortingly on the chest. The six of us stood there in a line for a few minutes, looking like the cover of a new comic book, _The ASBO Six _or some shit like that. However, someone soon emerged from the crowd in front of us, heading towards us. It was Jessica, dressed as a cowgirl in a fringed denim waistcoat, ribbon-tied pigtails and a red cowboy hat bordered with white feathers. Cliché, much?

Simon saw her first, and moved forward to greet her, that little smile on his face. Jessica grinned at him and leaned down to kiss him. It wasn't like a massive snog or anything, just a small, tender kiss, but it was enough to make Alisha roll her eyes at them as they disappeared into the crowd.

"Nice costume," Nathan remarked with a smirk.

"Er, she looks like a slut," retorted Alisha.

"I second that," I said.

"Yeah. A cute, slutty, murderin' psychopath!" Nathan exclaimed in agreement.

"Okay, I vote that we start dancing so we can keep an eye on the happy couple," I suggested, looking round at the others. "Don't go let them out of your line of vision, anyone! Wait a second…where's Kelly?! For fuck sake! Brilliant, we're down one set of eyes! Right, fuck it! Let's go! _Now_!" I grabbed Nathan's hand and dragged him into the centre of the dancefloor. Panic was beginning to set in; what if tonight was the night Jessica made her fatal move? I couldn't lose another Simon, I just couldn't! My mentality wouldn't take it- I'd crack. Right down the middle. But one thing was for sure: if she killed Simon, I'd kill her.

Dancing wasn't easy in the black knee-high stiletto boots I was wearing, plus it was starting to get uncomfortably hot in my catsuit. Maybe I should have gone with Juliet after all. Leaving the others on the dancefloor, I clicked my way over to the bar and quickly downed two shots of apple Sourz, hoping it would cool me down slightly.

Making my way back to where Nathan was, I had to beat off a Batman, a Michael Myers, a Spock and a Luke Skywalker, all of whom had made extremely inappropriate comments about my costume. Skywalker had even gone for the line from _The Dark Knight Rises_,"Nice outfit. Those heels make it hard to walk?" to which I'd played along with, "I don't know," before stamping hard on his foot and saying, "Do they?"

"God, this place is full of fucking perverts!" I shouted to Nathan over the music when I eventually reached him. I reached up and put my arms around his neck, cuddling in close.

"What d'you mean?" he asked me.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Can't go out in public in a low-cut Catwoman costume without someone making a suggestive comment about me."

"Who?" Shit, Nathan sounded quite pissed off at this.

"Erm, I couldn't see properly," I lied, not wanting to drag any attention away from Operation Keep Simon Alive. "Plus, they were wearing masks and shit…and I think I may have broken one guy's foot when I almost stuck my stiletto through his toes. Anyway, it's not like you need to worry. You're the only guy for me, baby." Before he could reply, I quickly laced my gloved hands together behind his head and kissed him. Almost automatically, Nathan's hands fell on my hips, pulling me closer to him. Both of us temporarily forgot the entire point of being at this party as we lost ourselves in the kiss. It was only when Curtis physically dragged me away that I remembered. "What?"

"They're gone!" he yelled.

"What do you mean, they're gone!?" I shouted. "People can't just disappear!" But as I swept the room with my eyes, I couldn't place Simon or Jessica anywhere in the crowd. "Well, fuck. Did you see where they went?!"

"They just walked off!" Alisha shouted back. "Through there!" She pointed into the hall off the main hall, which was packed with people dancing. The four of us hurried through the crowds, but Jessica and Simon had totally vanished.

"Where the fuck are they!?" exclaimed Nathan.

"Right, we need to split up!" I ordered. "Alisha, left hand corridors! Curtis, right hand corridors and roof! Nathan and I will take what's in the middle! Rendezvous back here either when someone finds him! Mobiles on! Let's do this shit!"

The others all nodded as we split off into the different directions, everyone heading to their designated areas. Nathan and I looked wildly around the dancefloor, but still they were nowhere to be seen. In fact, all I did see was a Playboy bunny and then a Slave Princess Leia trying to rub up against Nathan. I had to fight hard to keep my emotions under control- if my power kicked in, my gloves would go up in flames, along with me and the rest of my costume. Granted, Nathan then had to watch as a Jason Voorhees and a Captain America attempted to grab hold of me and dance with me. I didn't half give both of them a whack around the head for it.

As I twisted my head around to look, I suddenly heard my name being called. I turned, and came face-to-face with my two best friends from school, Emma and Courtney. Oh jeez, this was about to get real awkward like. I hadn't spoken to either of them for over a month. Both of them looked amazing: Emma was dressed as Alice from _Resident Evil_ in a red asymmetric dress and black combat boots, and she was holding a fake plastic machine gun. Courtney was dressed as Irene Adler from the BBC _Sherlock _series in a above-knee white dress, black stilettos and seamed tights, clutching a riding crop. We spent an uncomfortable five minutes catching up, in which I was introduced to Courtney's new boyfriend Ash (BBC's Sherlock Holmes) and I presented Nathan as my boyfriend, before saying there was someone we needed to meet and departed the scene.

Nathan and I were on that dancefloor for about more twenty minutes, but there was absolutely no sign of the 'lovebirds'. No flash of Jessica's cowboy hat, no show of Simon's mask. Just nothing.

"Where the fuck could they have gone!?" I shouted.

"Fuck knows!" replied Nathan. "You don't think-"

He was suddenly interrupted by a sudden shout of, "Don't move! Let her go!" The voice was male and Scottish, and coming from somewhere to mine and Nathan's right. We turned, and saw a policeman…at least, I assumed it was a policeman and not a costume…pointing at Kelly and someone in a gorilla costume.

"What the fuck's going on?!" I exclaimed, just as Gorilla gave the policeman a sharp shove. The gorilla then grabbed Kelly's hand and pulled her through the door that lead to the back car park of the community centre.

"All units to Wertham Community Centre!" Scottish said into his radio. "Suspect is wearing a gorilla costume!"

"Shit! This must be big!" I yelled to Nathan, who nodded, and simultaneously the two of us started running after them. My heels pattered loudly on the tiled floor as we burst out the back doors, and were immediately almost knocked over by the God knows how many policemen that came speeding out the doors behind us.

"Dickheads!" I yelled after them as Nathan made karate motions at the doors, but no more police came out.

"Kelly!" he called, but no reply came. Apparently, she and Gorilla were too far ahead. "What's goin' on?" he asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because clearly I know! Come on, we're losing them!" Running in stiletto heels wasn't my best trait on a good day, but now that I was worried about both Simon _and _Kelly, I was shaking in my boots- literally. On the plus side, I was now very grateful for my skin-tight catsuit, as the air outside was fucking freezing!

Nathan and I were running as fast as we could, but it seemed that the faster we ran, the faster the cops ran, and the two of us soon fell very behind. I could hear a police dog going absolutely ape-shit at something, and I instinctively sped up, now extremely anxious.

Nathan and I emerged onto one of the larger estate platforms by one of the high-rise apartment buildings which the cops were disappearing into.

"Where are they going?!" I demanded, when suddenly Nathan elbowed me in the ribs to get my attention, pointing up. I followed his finger. "OH MY FUCKING GOD!" I shrieked. Kelly was piggybacking on Gorilla, who was literally scaling the building King Kong-style.

"How the fuck does that work!?" Nathan sounded dumbfounded. "Is he fuckin' Spider-Man?"

"That is not the question we need to be asking right now!" I said hastily. "Come on!" And more running began as we hurtled our way into the building and up the many, many, _many _flights of stairs that led to the roof. I honest to God think we must have run up about twenty floors before I slipped in my heels and cracked my ankle against one of the concrete steps, bringing tears to my eye. Oh God, why now?! The roof was literally two floors away! I could hear the sounds of a brawl from where I was - lots of bangs, crashes and muffled yells.

I tried to stand up again, but when I tried to put weight on my injured ankle all I felt were little shooting pains going up my leg. "Ow!" I whined. "Nathan! I think I've…ow!…twisted my ankle! I can't walk on it!"

"Aw, Jesus!" groaned Nathan, hurrying back to help me. "Like we need this now!"

"I'm sorry if my injury is an inconvenience to you," I snapped, glaring at him as he tenderly helped me to my feet. A sudden gunshot echoed down the stairs, and the unexpectedness of it almost caused Nathan to drop me down the stairs. "SHIT!" I yelled. "Shit, shit, shit! We need to get up there!" I wrapped my arms tightly around Nathan's neck as he put his around my waist and had to almost drag me up the next two flights of stairs.

"Ya killed 'im!" we heard Kelly cry as we emerged onto the roof.

"Kelly!" Nathan shouted, trying to get passed the policeman, who tried to restrain the two of us.

"Stop! We know her!" I yelled as Nathan and I struggled our way through them. Nathan and I had let go of each other, and he ran over to her as I limped my way to them. Kelly was sitting on the floor, Gorilla Boy in her lap. She looked absolutely heartbroken, tears streaming down her face. But as I drew closer, I realised that Gorilla Boy wasn't a boy but…actually a gorilla. Who was clearly dead.

"What. The. Fuck," I said, dropping to my knees next to Kelly, just as Nathan crouched down and pulled off his mask.

"Why is a gorilla wearin' a gorilla costume?" he asked, and I removed one of my gloves and whacked him with it. You didn't need to be a fucking rocket scientist to work out this was some more shit caused by that bloody storm.

* * *

The sun rose slowly over the community centre. I loved seeing early mornings; they always looked so beautiful. Usually. Not today. Today, I was just tired. My eyes itched, my ankle ached, and I'd abandoned my cat-eared hood and my gloves on a chair a couple of hours earlier.

The early morning breeze chilled me slightly, but I doubted I felt as cold as Kelly did. For the past couple of hours she had done nothing but stare out over the lake with tears dripping silently down her face. She had explained that the gorilla- Bruno- had been messed up by the storm. It had turned him human.

"I feel we should say something," I whispered to Nathan as we sat curled up together in one of the roof's chairs.

"Like what?" he whispered back. "We don't know what the fuck was goin' on with her and…whatever the fuck that gorilla thing was!"

"Oh for God's sake," I tutted, uncurling myself from him and walking over to Kelly. The sounds of my heels on the concrete must have alerted her to me, as she quickly wiped away the tears. I gently put my hand on her shoulder. "Kel? You alright?"

"Most people say one fing ta ya face, and fink somefin' different. Bruno weren't like that. 'E fort nice fings about me," she said in a deadened tone. "I meet a guy I really like, and 'e's a fockin' monkey!"

"Welcome to my world," I joked feebly, but Kelly didn't smile. "Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood."

"And hey, technically he was a gorilla," added Nathan, who had come up behind me. Kelly glared at him. "But let's not go there."

"No, let's not," I said.

"I'm sorry, yeah?" I said quietly, patting her on the back somewhat awkwardly. I wasn't good in situations that involved people crying- unless it was me that had made them cry.

There was an uncomfortable silence that none of us knew how to break. Kelly clearly did not want to talk anymore, and I thought it would be ridiculously inconsiderate if Nathan and I started acting all couple-y around her. I could see the ache of grief in her eyes. It was a look I'd seen in my own eyes not too long ago, when I'd thought that Nathan was dead. Kelly was hurting, and there was nothing I could do or say to change that.

The door suddenly creaked open again, and Simon, Alisha and Curtis all filed out on to the roof, all of them looking shattered with fatigue, but there was something else in Simon's face as well, something I couldn't place. Sadness? Remorse? Defeat? It was something like that.

"Hey, Jesus!" exclaimed Nathan, walking over to Simon. "What with all the monkey business, I forgot about you and your girl." He paused, looking Simon over. "So she didn't brutally murder you, then?"

"It was her dad," replied Simon, flattening his hair with the heel of his hand. "He's been arrested. Jessica isn't a psychopathic killer; she's a virgin."

"I knew there was somethin' wrong with her!" Nathan said triumphantly.

Simon's facial expression suddenly changed, transforming from beaten to extremely proud. "There isn't anymore."

Oh. My. God. Was…was Simon saying what I thought he was saying?! He actually managed to lose his virginity!?

Nathan looked like he was about to burst into tears as he looked around at all of us. He pulled Simon into a massive hug, acting like a father who had just seen his son walk for the first time. "I'm proud of you, man!" he laughed. I smiled at them- my best friend and my boyfriend, finally properly friends themselves. Nathan seized the sides of Simon's head, forcing him to look at him. "And I will expect to hear every disgustin' detail!" Aaand the moment was killed.

"Hey, this calls for a celebration!" Nathan continued happily, passing around cans of beers to everyone. I felt that now wasn't the time to mention that I didn't actually _like _beer, so I cracked my can open and took a sip, trying not to wince at the taste.

"Maybe this is what it's like to be a superhero," mused Simon as the six of us gathered at the edge of the roof.

"I think it'd take more than you gettin' laid to turn you into a superhero," Nathan stated, slipping an arm around my waist.

But as we stood there on the roof in our costumes, looking like we belonged on the cover of the latest DC comic, I began to wonder if maybe...just maybe...we could be superheroes after all.

* * *

"_Tell me, does she,  
Look at you the way I do?  
Try to understand the words you say,  
And the way you move?  
Does she get the same big rush,  
When you go in for a hug and your cheeks brush?  
Tell me, am I crazy,  
Or is this more than a crush?__"  
_**-He Is We, ****"****Blame It On The Rain****"**

* * *

**A/N- I am so, so, so, so, so, SO sorry it's taken so long for me to update! I don't even know what happened. I'm going out on a limb and assuming it's because I've been ill, then I had my school prom…so yeah. Sorry, guys! I hope you liked the finale to Episode Five! Review it, I'd love to know! Xx Gee xX**


	35. That'll Make The 5 O'Clock News

**A/N- Here it is- the beginning of Episode Six, the episode where shit goes down, and where shit hits the fan in the worst way! THE PENULITMATE EPISODE. Oh my God, I can't wait! Slight warning (er, kinda) that these chapters may be slightly shorter than usual. We've also a nice little milestone of sixty followers, so wahey to that! Big huge thanks to Kattiee for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Five- That'll Make The 5 O'Clock News**

Two days. That was it. _Two days_. I could count it on one hand. Two days until the shit of community service was over. I'd never been so happy in my entire life. Well, other than when I was actually sentenced to community service over a month in jail. And it was because of the fact we only had two days left did us six ASBOees find ourselves gathered around the TV in the probation office, watching a news report. And by Jesus, was it a shocker.

"I call it…lactokinesis!" the scrawny pale kid on the TV announced, having just revealed to the world that he had the power to control dairy products. What. The. Fuck.

"That has ta be da shittest power ever," Kelly deadpanned.

"Lactoke-fucking-nesis?! That storm really outdid itself this time," I muttered. "Seriously, who _is _this kid!?" The reporters interviewing Milk Kid were shouting things like, "How does it feel to be the world's first superhero?" at him, and the kid was clearly relishing the attention. Oh my God, the little fucker actually thought he was the only person with a power. Why else would he have revealed himself to the world with that shit-arse power? Well the joke was on him, because this was all it would take for practically anyone with a power to come forward.

I'd've felt sorry for the kid if I wasn't so fucking pissed off at him. All those weeks we had spent hiding our powers from the world, and now this prick had gone and exploited his for all it was worth! Which wasn't really that much.

The six of us had been confronted with that report a few hours ago, and then spent the better part of the day just trying to get on with things. But all through the day was a thought niggling in the back of my head: what if we got found out? Would that be a good thing? What would come out of it? Fame, fortune, photo shoots, all the things that, if I was perfectly honest, I had craved since the age of eight. Well, I guess that answered my question- yes. It would be a very good thing. Whether the others would think that it was a good thing was something entirely different.

And the scenario was completely brought to life around lunchtime. The six of us had just dumped the shit from the morning's task in the storage cupboard and were heading outside for lunch when Simon suddenly came charging back inside, slamming the doors on something. Lots of somethings. Somethings that flashed and yelled recklessly.

"Woah! What the fuck was that?!" I demanded, taking in Simon's wildly terrified expression. "Oh Jesus. IT'S THE FUCKING APOCALYPSE! Is it zombies!?"

Simon shook his head frantically. "They know about us!"

"Who?" asked Nathan, confused.

"Everyone!" replied Simon, looking steadily more scared by the second.

"Wot are ya talkin' about?!" asked Kelly.

"There are…reporters and TV cameras outside! Lots of them!" Simon stammered.

"Bullshit!" "No way!" and "Are you serious?!" were Curtis, Kelly's and Alisha's responses to this little piece of information, while I suddenly felt myself crack a massive grin.

"You mean, there's paparazzi at the door?" I squealed, suddenly feeling extremely excited. I looked up at Nathan, and he too was grinning. Simon nodded slowly, looking nauseous.

"Right," Nathan said, moving towards the door. "I think I might take a little peek!"

"Ooh, me too!" I exclaimed, moving forward as well.

"Don't open the door!" shouted Simon, standing in front of Nathan and me, trying to stop us from getting outside. But Simon just didn't have enough strength to stop the both of us, and we managed to push our way past him, almost falling _into _the door. "Georgia, Nathan! Don't!" he tried desperately.

With a deep breath, Nathan and I shoved the door open, and the reporters went crazy. As the journalists shouted questions at us, cameras were flashing in our faces, so the two of us decided to go crazy with some poses for a few moments before hurrying back inside and firmly closing the door on them all.

"Oh, sweet baby Jesus," I said, laughing breathlessly.

"That is really quite a lot of reporters," Nathan added with his own breathless laugh.

"'Ow did they find out about os?" demanded Kelly. Huh. A good point, actually. How _had _the media discovered that we had powers? Almost simultaneously, everybody shifted their gaze to Nathan. We were all wearing the exact same expression of suspicion.

"What?! No, I didn't do anythin'!" Nathan said defensively, gesturing at himself. Then he paused. "I don't think I did." Another pause. "I'm almost certain I didn't."

The was suddenly the sound of a door opening, and we all turned to see the probation worker come strolling out of the main hall. He was wearing a jacket and had a cardboard box in his hands, like he was leaving or something. Then it clicked. _Oh. No. He. Didn't_.

"You!" Nathan shouted at him, snapping his fingers and pointing at the probation worker. The probation worker slowed to a stop and turned around, an infuriatingly self-satisfied smirk on his face. "You told them about us?" Nathan accused him, striding up to him as the rest of us followed.

"Yeah," the probation worker sneered.

"You sit on your arse doing _nothing _for six weeks, and then you sell us out?!" demanded Curtis angrily.

"Looks like that, don't it?" drawled the probation worker. "Isn't that ironic?"

"On what planet is that fucking classed as 'ironic'!?" I exploded. "Of course it's not!"

"Isn't it? I'm never too sure." The prick actually had the nerve to put on a voice like he was thinking about it.

"You're our probation worker! You're supposed ta sort os out!" snapped Kelly.

"Look, I'm sure you'll be fine," Prick-Face said patronizingly.

"Like you give a shit!" retorted Alisha.

"That's a good point," he said, winking at us, turning around and starting to walk away. Jesus, the urge to kill this guy was extremely high right now. If he'd have been within arm's length I wouldn't have hesitated to set him on fire.

"Where're you going?!" yelled Curtis.

"Antigua!" the probation worked called back smugly, turning back to smirk at us again. "So this is goodbye, so long, and fuck off." And with that, he walked off and disappeared round the corner.

"Cunt!" I screamed after him, but the back door that he had walked out clicked shut behind him, the sound echoing through the almost-empty hallway. The six of us kind of huddled together in the middle of the room, like we were penguins or something, trying to protect ourselves from the cold outside world.

"I really surprised that it hasn't happened sooner," stated Nathan. "We haven't really been that careful."

"Okay. We just need to calm down and think," I said calmly. "What's the worst that could really happen from all this?"

"They'll treat us like freaks," insisted Simon, an underlying tone of fear in his voice. "They'll lock us up in a secret military facility and conduct experiments on us."

"Simon, sweetheart, nobody's carting us off to Area 51," I said wearily, running a hand through my hair.

"And no one's experimentin' on me!" added Nathan, like the thought of it offended him. "I'm not a monkey!"

"Wot we gonna do?" asked Kelly, panicked.

"We have to go into hiding!" announced Simon. "We assume new identities! We break off all connection with our families and friends! We wear disguises and only go out after dark!"

"I'm not loving the sound of that!" Curtis derided.

"D'you expect me never to see my mum again?" demanded Nathan. "Who's gonna do my washin'?"

"And I'm not exactly keen on that 'only going out after dark' thing," I added, folding my arms. "I'm not a vampire, and I'm scared of the dark!"

"You have not thought this through," concluded Nathan.

The was suddenly the sound of a door clicking shut. "There is an alternative," an unfamiliar voice said from behind us, causing us all to turn around.

A woman was standing by the front doors. She had dark hair, was standing so upright it was like she had a poker up her arse, and she was dressed elegantly in a charcoal trouser suit. Her set expression showed she meant business. Business for what, I didn't know, but business nonetheless.

"Who are you?" Alisha asked her, her voice wavering slightly.

"I'm the person who can make it so you don't have to go into hiding," the woman said, walking towards us. I could see her assessing us with her eyes, evaluating us, judging us. "If this is handled right, you're all making some serious money."

None of us moved. None of us spoke. I could tell that everyone was trying to process what the woman had said; I could practically hear the cogs grinding away in everyone's heads. We all concurrently looked at each other, before looking back at the woman.

"Er, can we, er, have a minute?" I asked.

The woman nodded. "Of course. Take as much time as you need." The six of us formed another, tighter huddle, away from the woman so she wouldn't overhear us.

"What are we thinkin'?" whispered Nathan.

"I think we should do it," I replied quietly. "What's the worst that could happen? Oh, I know, we get famous and have loads of money."

"This isn't why we got our powers!" insisted Simon.

"And why did we then, Simon?" I demanded. He stayed quiet, looking at the floor.

"The is no 'why', " cut in Nathan. "There's only 'what'. What are we gonna spend all our money on?"

"None of us even know what we're doing after we finish," whispered Curtis. "Better than signing on!"

"Wot about the people we killed?" pointed out Kelly. Shit. I'd totally forgotten about that.

"I guess we should ask her about that," suggested Alisha. Everyone- aside from Simon- turned to face the still-nameless woman.

"Now, I'm not sayin' we _have_," began Nathan in a forced-casual tone. "But what would happen- hypothetically speakin'- if it came to light that we may have killed one or two people. Probation workers and such, no one important."

The woman deliberated over this for a moment. "I would say that these people you may or may not have killed, were evil. You were protecting society. You're not murderers. You're heroes. _Super_heroes. Rich, famous superheroes." The woman paused. "And if that doesn't work we vanish the bodies and pay off the relatives."

"Good answer!" Nathan said happily, grinning.

"I'm seriously liking the sound of all this," I said, taking hold of Nathan's hand and cuddling closer to him to stop myself from feeling as nervous as I did.

"Sign us up," put in Curtis, also grinning.

The only one of us that was very hesitant was Simon. "You're making a mistake," he told us, glaring at the woman.

"We should stick together," Alisha said quietly to him, fixing him with a pleading stare.

"Jost do it wiv os!" added Kelly.

"Come with us," I begged. "It's better this way- we can have anything and everything we want! It'll be so easy!"

"This will change everything," he said ominously, looking at all of us expressively.

"Simon, please!" I said to him as he pushed past us. I tried to grab his hand, but he shook me off, storming towards the doors. He totally ignored the woman's attempt to give him her card and stamped out of the front doors, paying no attention to the paps outside the doors.

Back in the locker room, the remaining five of us immediately started discussing what the fuck had just happened.

"We're gonna be famous," I said numbly. "I can't believe this. This is absolutely mental."

"Do you trust her?" Alisha asked.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But if she can keep us out of jail for committing them murders then all ashore that's going ashore, I say."

"Nofin' bad can 'appen, though, right?" said Kelly.

"'Course not," I said breezily, moving to the mirror Nathan was in front of and starting to brush my hair. Seeing Curtis, Kelly and Alisha's expressions of 'seriously?' reflected in the mirror, I raised my eyebrows at them. "What? In about five minutes we're gonna be shoved out in front of all them cameras. I, for one, actually want to look half-decent." 'Half-decent' also involved me putting on another layer of foundation, re-ringing my eyes in eyeliner and applying another coat of pink lipgloss. I was just rejoining the others when the locker room door opened and the woman walked in.

"They're waiting for you," she informed us. "They're calling you The ASBO Six."

"I haven't even got an ASBO," Curtis said snappishly.

"No one cares," the woman said dismissively. "Okay, any questions you don't want to answer, just let me handle it."

"Teeth, good. Hair, beautiful," Nathan suddenly said, still looking in the mirror. "Cock, in. Flies, up." He clicked his fingers and spun round to face us, grinning like a crazy person. "Let's go be famous."

I shook back my hair and squared my shoulders as Nathan pushed his way through us so he could be at the front. From my years of incessantly reading magazines such as _Star _and _OK! _and _heat_, I knew I needed to look confident in photographs. Looking weak was a sign to the media to rip you apart.

* * *

Holy fucking Christ, it was absolute bedlam. I'd never realised how bloody relentless the paparazzi were. The second the five of us vacated the building they pounced, cameras flashing in our faces and questions being shouted at us.

Each of us was dragged off by a separate reporter, some for TV, others for magazines. I was grabbed by a reporter for _heat_, who wasted no time in firing off the questions:

"How old are you?"

"Does that make you the youngest?"

"How did you feel when you first discovered you had a power?"

"Do you have a boyfriend? And if so, what's his name? How long have you been together?"

"What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?"

"Is it true the reason you're on community service is because you hit your younger sister with a baseball bat?"

"How did that effect your relationship with your family?"

All of which I answered as truthfully as possible with:

"I'm eighteen, nineteen in just over a month."

"Yes, I am the youngest."

"I was fucking terrified, to be honest. I thought I was turning into The Human Torch or something."

"Yeah, I have a boyfriend. He's Nathan, over there. We've been together for a month and a half now."

"In my free time I like looking through comic books, watching movies or TV, and I like reading. Oh, and I also love gaming. I'm a huge Batman fan as well. I know, I'm a nerd. Guilty as charged."

"Yeah, I did hit my sister with a baseball bat, and before any bullshit comes out, I only broke her jaw. Nothing else."

"Well, my parents bought me a small flat on the estate and chucked me out of the family house, and made me cut off all contact with the family. I haven't seen my little brother in…months now."

Well, the media practically fucking exploded at the revelation that A) I was in a relationship with another member of 'The ASBO Six' and B) That I was estranged from my family. I estimated it would take exactly forty-eight hours before my face was splashed on the front of that magazine, along with some cheesy headline such as _MISUNDERSTOOD TEEN SUPERHERO SHARES STORY ON HOW SHE WAS CRUELLY ALIENATED FROM HER FAMILY AFTER RECEIVING AN ASBO, AND HOW SHE FIXED HER HEARTBREAK BY FINDING LOVE WITH A FELLOW YOUNG OFFENDER_ or some shit like that.

As I looked around, watching Nathan, Kelly, Alisha and Curtis telling their own stories to other tabloids or camera crews, I started to wonder if we had done the right thing, if choosing to be famous had been the right decision.

But suddenly I was being thrust over by a blank wall of the community centre (well, I say blank. It was covered in graffiti) and being ordered to pose. I hated to admit it, but I started to completely forget that Simon had abandoned us as the photographer clicked away in front of me and called out different poses for me. Could I turn to the left a bit more? Could I put my hand on my hip and pout? Could I pretend to clean the graffiti? Could I flip off the camera?

I was more than happy to oblige, and to be perfectly honest, it felt almost natural to me. I know that sounds really, really arrogant, but I guess the camera just took to me. Or maybe I took to it. Either way, I really felt like I was _born _to be in front of a camera. Oh Jesus, that does sound arrogant. Oh well.

We were interviewed for the majority of the rest of what should have been our community service shift. I was interviewed by Wertham News, who wanted to know how I discovered I had a power, the same question they had asked everyone else.

"Well, like with Alisha, it was just after we'd found Gary's body jammed into that locker. I'm a really squeamish person, and there was so much blood everywhere that I started to faint. As I began to fall, I grabbed Nathan's arm to steady myself, but he cried out in pain and pulled away. When he did pull away completely, there was this black, smoking handprint where I'd grabbed. It took a little longer for me to realise that it only happened when I was scared or angry."

But eventually, the woman (who had informed us that her name was Laura) intervened and told the reporters that they had enough material for our first public appearances. The six of us were hustled back into the locker rooms to change, but before we could leave, Laura stopped us.

"Tomorrow afternoon the six of you shall be picked up by a car that will take you to the Grand Hotel," she told us in that brisk, professional tone of hers. "This is where we are taking everybody that has a power in order to keep you all safe and within reach. You are to go home, pack a bag and be at the hotel for tomorrow afternoon."

"Hey, you can't just tell us what to do!" I said indignantly. "We might not want to go live in some random hotel!"

"I can tell you exactly what to do," returned Laura, fixing me with a hard stare. "You all signed the contract. You'll all do what I say, when I say it."

"Alright, love, calm it down," I mumbled so she wouldn't hear me as she went on to ask if there were any other queries with the hotel plan, and of course nobody did. It was like she owned us already.

* * *

Nathan and I soon returned to my flat. He'd just grabbed the bags he kept in his locker and dragged them round to mine, as he was going to be taken to the hotel with me. Neither of us knew what to say (a first). It was like we were shell-shocked or something. The fame bug had bitten both of us, but we didn't know what that meant.

"Yet another unexpected turn of events," Nathan said suddenly after half an hour of near-silence. He was stretched out on the sofa, watching the news.

"No shit," I said, running my hands down my face before collapsing on the sofa next to him, crossing my legs over his. "We're gonna be famous. This hotel thing sounds like _Big Brother _without the confinement."

"It was only a matter of time," Nathan said matter-of-factly. "I'm still thinkin' it shoulda been us that told the world about powers first. Ours are way more A-list."

"I _still _don't see how lactokinesis is a 'superpower'," I said, changing my position on the sofa so that I was lying on top of Nathan, my head on his chest.

"I was sayin' to the guys, what if we get cool superpower names? You could be The Girl On Fire."

"I'm pretty sure that's copyrighted by _The Hunger Games_," I giggled. "What would you be? The Immortal Twat?"

"No, 'cause that sounds too much like Barry's. I'd be Captain Invincible."

"What's Simon then?"

"The Invisible Cunt."

"Of course he is." I looked back at the TV, which was suddenly playing the footage of us. "Oh my God, Nathan, look!" I jumped up from the sofa, staring at the TV. The story was bannered with _MEET THE ASBO SIX _and was playing the footage of Alisha, then me on how we discovered our powers. They then showed Curtis, Nathan and Kelly, before saying there was an 'alleged extra member of the team, who opted to not become local heroes like his fellow ASBOed counterparts'.

The footage then cut to an extremely taken aback Simon opening the doors to the reporters and hastily shutting them again. The reporter was then introducing us all by name as, "Gorgeous Alisha Daniels, twenty-one, feisty Georgia Riches, eighteen, athletic Curtis Donovan, twenty-two, self-assured Nathan Young, also twenty-two, and strong-headed Kelly Bailey, twenty-one." In between each name was footage of each of us, including Nathan and I posing outside the doors. Apparently we were 'beginning a new chapter in our young lives' and 'what will fame do to this ragtag group of friends?'

That was one thing I'd never considered. What _would _fame do to us? Would we all stay friends? Would it change us completely, turn us into totally different people.

"Oh my God," I said quietly. "They're right."

"What?" said Nathan, standing up.

"What's gonna happen?!" I said shrilly, starting to panic for reasons unknown. "To us? To all of us?! What if this breaks us all up?! What if we all stop being friends?! What if-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Nathan said hurriedly, taking my face in his hands. "What're you talkin' about? Where's all this shit come from? Not one hour ago you were fuckin' buzzed for all the fame and everythin'! Why the change of heart?"

"I'm scared Nathan! I don't want anything to come between us! Between the group, between you and me! Promise me!" I pleaded, clinging to the collar of his hoodie with both hands. "Promise me that fame won't change us! Promise me that we'll stay together through this! Promise me you'll stay with me!"

In a rare moment of Nathan actually trying to be serious, he looked me dead in the eyes and simply said, "I promise."

* * *

"_Fame, doing it for the fame,  
__'__Cause we wanna live the life,  
Of the rich and famous ,  
Fame, doing it for the fame,  
__'__Cause we got a taste for,  
Champagne and endless fortune.__"  
_**-Lady GaGa, ****"****The Fame****"**

* * *

**A/N- So, is there any particular reason that I only got one review for the last chapter? Was it that shit? **_**Seriously**_**? Jeez.  
Okay, about the chapter. I hope Nathan doesn't seem too OOC at the end there. I also know there's a lot more drama than there is funniness, but sometimes it's gotta be like that, y'know? What do we think will happen with Georgia and Nathan? More drama, or something else? Let me know, I'll always take your ideas to heart! Review, review, review guys! I love you all, and more than one would make me seriously happy! Xx Gee xX**


	36. Heartbreak Hotel

**A/N- IT'S ALL GOING DOWN IN THIS CHAPTER! *clears throat* Sorry, just got a bit excited then. For answering my pleas, extra HUGE thanks to ShipsThatFly, Guest, meganlloyd16, Beebopalula and dustdancingintheflickerlight (in response, yes, more of my own ideas start appearing round about…now, actually ;]) for your reviews! Much happiness was caused by you all!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Six- Heartbreak Hotel**

And so began the absolute most hectic week of my life, ever.

The very next day, at one o'clock sharp, Nathan and I were bundled out of my little flat and into a sleek black limo, both of us only holding a couple of duffle bags each. To be fair, mine were mostly stuffed with heels and clothes, but I also had a bag devoted entirely to my comic collection, a few books and the posters from my bedroom.

The hotel was amazing. Beautiful, even. My room was complete perfection. They'd really done their research on me, as practically everything in the room was a gorgeous pale pink- the bed sheets, the sofas, the carpet, the rose wallpaper, even the pictures on the walls. But despite the room's glory, I'd still tacked up all my old nerdy posters in an effort to make the room a bit more homey.

It was then seven days of full-on work, something I seriously was not used to. The only job I'd ever had was a part-time one at Costa Coffee as a barista.

Every day there was some kind of new interview or TV appearance for us. I'd been booked by River Island to do a photo shoot for their new Fiery Chick range, which involved me dressing up in lots of red and black and posing in front of a backdrop of flames. I was plastered in thick eyeliner that dramatically flicked out at the sides, not to mention the diamante false eyelashes and red lipstick.

According to Laura, my look had been 'practically perfect' for the clothing line, with just one 'minor tactical setback'- my hair. Apparently my long hair was too boring for the style, so I had been ordered to dye it bright red. I put my foot down, asserting the fact that I'd already had red hair once, and I knew that it didn't suit me.

So we came to a happy medium: my hair was dyed a deep pitch black, with crimson streaks running through it. I also had a good three inches or so of it lopped off so that it fell to just on my shoulders, with severe layers literally hacked into it to give it 'more volume and severity', according to Jez the hairdresser. Though initially I was supposed to have a side fringe cut in, I vetoed that as well. My full fringe was a part of me- ain't nobody gettin' rid of my fringe.

My new 'angle', as Laura called it, was 'sexy, fiery and dangerous', a look that was being forced on to me everywhere I went. _New! _magazine even did an entire two-page spread on me and Nathan, calling us 'Romeo and Juliet for the ASBO generation'. That had been one of my most revealing interviews ever- literally. Not only were the questions totally inappropriate (who the fuck wanted to know how many times a week Nathan and I had sex, for fuck sake!?), but we also had a photo shoot together, some shots which involved me in a black and red bikini emerging from the hotel pool, like some kind of Venus in negative. Then there was the totally clichéd pose of the two of us on the hotel roof (no, I don't know why either) dressed as Wonder Woman and Superman, posing as if we were about to jump off. I had been quick to point out that Superman and Wonder Woman are in no way romantically involved in any comic, and that it would have been better to go with Superman and Lois Lane, or maybe Nightwing and Starfire, but the production team totally blanked me.

I won't deny that I was enjoying myself immensely, but it was starting to get exhausting- the constant work and public appearances were starting to take their toll on me. Physically, I had never looked better. My hair looked great, I was up to my eyes in designer clothes and I had red gel false nails infused over the tops of my bitten stubs. But emotionally, I was starting to feel drained. I hadn't spoken to Simon in a week; no phone calls, no texts, no emails. Nothing. And I missed him. The only thing that was getting me through all this was the one unyielding presence in my life- Nathan.

The night before, we had gone to a nightclub along with the rest of 'The ASBO Six'. It had been a mad scrum of signing autographs (yes, really), posing for photos with 'fans' and getting photographed professionally. Again. I'd left the club early- around one AM- because I had started to get a migraine, promising Nathan that I'd stop by his room in the morning. I was getting headaches quite often, actually. I also felt sick quite a lot, especially in the mornings. I really hoped I wasn't coming down with anything.

I woke up on that eighth day with my head completely submerged in the stack of silken pillows on the ridiculously large bed. I opened my eyes and immediately winced away from the sunlight streaming in through the curtains. The bottom of my mouth was dry as a desert; apparently I'd drunk a lot more than I thought. I turned and looked at my alarm clock, which stated that is was just after nine o'clock in the morning.

I sat up and rubbed at my eyes, my hands coming away smeared with black. Hm, hadn't removed my eyeliner either. _Nice. Time for a shower_. God, I felt rough.

I dragged myself out of bed, stumbling on the ludicrously thick carpet. My stomach suddenly heaved, and I had to lurch into the bathroom to the toilet so I would avoid puking on the marbled bathroom floor.

Urgh, I hated vomiting. I mean, I don't know anyone that enjoyed it, but I really, _really _hated it. Jesus, I seriously hoped this was just hangover-induced, and that I wasn't becoming ill. That was the last thing I needed, to be photographed looking all pale and greenish and gross.

Stripping out of my pink babydoll nightie I was wearing, I turned the power-shower on full blast and collapsed under the water, trying to wash away the sicky feeling, if that was possible. I washed my hair vigorously, ignoring the black and red water trails that cascaded over my shoulders as the hair dye still rinsed out.

Feeling a hell'uva lot more refreshed than I had twenty minutes earlier, I shut off the shower and clambered out, drying myself on one of the plush white hotel towels. I padded my way into the bedroom and opened my new walk-in wardrobe and stared at the clothes musingly, wondering what to wear. The dominant colours were various shades of red and black, and I found myself thinking longingly of my old white and pink and blue clothes. I loved red and black, but I didn't want to wear them every day.

Still, not wanting to fuck up my newfound 'image', I selected a pair of skin-tight black leatherette jeggings, a tight low-cut scarlet camisole with black lace detailing and a pair of sky-high black stiletto up-to-the-knee boots. I teased my hair out by backcombing it vigorously then spraying it with copious amounts of Elnett Extra-Strong hairspray. Make-up also applied, I smiled at my reflection and tottered out the door and down the hallway, towards Nathan's room. I saw a girl dressed in a shiny champagne-coloured dress walking down the hall ahead of me, disappearing round the corner. Jeez, like _that _didn't scream 'WALK OF SHAME'. I wondered who'd managed to get lucky on our floor.

A 'Do Not Disturb' sign was hanging on the door handle of Nathan's room. The lazy bastard probably hadn't gotten back from the club till five this morning or something ridiculous, and now he was sleeping in. I opened the door anyway, figuring I'd give him a nice little wake-up call.

"Hello? Nathan, babe? You awake?" I called softly, listening for any signs of life. I heard a muted groan of apprehension come from the bedroom, a couple whispers and the sound of a door being shut.

"Yeah, love, I'm in the bedroom!" Nathan called back. Frowning slightly, I made my way out of the hallway and through to said bedroom. Nathan was casually looking through his own wardrobe, flicking through a load of t-shirts and shirts. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and no top, and he clearly hadn't brushed his hair.

"Nice night, I take it?" I said lightly, sitting down on his unmade bed. "You look tired as fuck."

"Yeah, it was alright," he said in a blasé tone, still facing away from me. "Can't really remember much of it."

"Always a sign of a good time," I said with a smile. There was a sudden crashing sound that emanated from behind the closed bathroom door, making me start slightly. "What the fuck was that?"

"Nothin', probably just the wind. I think I left the window open," Nathan said hastily, finally turning around after putting on a t-shirt at last, but he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure the bathrooms here don't have windows," I said suspiciously.

"A ghost, then. You know, some real _Paranormal Activity _shit."

"Uh huh." I narrowed my eyes at him. He visibly gulped, which I found extremely shifty. I jumped up from the bed and darted across the room to the bathroom door, ignoring Nathan telling to leave it, that it was nothing, that I was overreacting.

I stuck my hand out and pushed the door open violently, letting it bang against the wall. "What. The. Fuck."

Inside the bathroom were two scantily clad blondes, and by scantily clad I literally mean it looked like they had only just finished getting dressed. Getting dressed in clubbing outfits that barely covered their arses, the hoes.

"Who the _fuck _are you two?" I demanded angrily, scowling at them.

"You might want to ask your 'boyfriend' that, pet," one of them said bitchily. She had a distinct Newcastle accent, which mentally made me underline 'Ho' in my brain.

"Oh, and why might that be then, _pet_?" I said, mocking her accent. The two girls just smirked and pushed past me, one of them catching me in the eye with her cheap hair extensions. They both made 'call me' hand gestures at Nathan before sauntering out the door, which automatically swung shut behind them.

I rounded on Nathan, planting my hands on my hips and setting my face into a stiff expression. "_So_. Who were those lovely, _lovely_-looking girls?" I asked sarcastically. "'Cause I'm pretty sure the maids around here are a hell of a lot better dressed." Nathan remained uncharacteristically silent. He was fidgeting a lot, and he looked…guilty?

It suddenly clicked. "No. No, you didn't," I said, my voice wobbling as I took a couple of steps away from him. "Nathan…you cheated on me? You cheated on me with those _whores_?" No. No, this wasn't right. This couldn't be happening to me!

Nathan now looked positively shamefaced as he rushed up to me and put his hands on the tops of my arms. "No! No, Georgia, c'mon! It wasn't cheatin'-"

"YOU FUCKED THREE OTHER GIRLS IN ONE NIGHT!" I screamed at him, suddenly losing it, as I now had no doubt as to where that girl from earlier this morning had been leaving. "HOW IS THAT NOT CHEATING, NATHAN?! WE'VE BEEN FAMOUS, WHAT, ONE WEEK!? AND IT'S ONLY TAKEN YOU THAT LONG TO COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT ME! ABOUT _US_! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" I could feel my entire world collapsing around me. I seized a porcelain bowl from one of the bedside tables and, with a guttural shriek, hurled it at Nathan's head, but he quickly sidestepped, and the bowl hit the wall with a ear-splitting crash.

"Jesus! It didn't mean nothin', I swear!"

"Oh, and I suppose that makes it alright!" I shouted derisively. I suddenly flew at him, punching every inch of his chest with my fists, ignoring the fact that as I did so I was leaving little burns on his t-shirt. "How could you do this to me?!" I was yelling, over and over again until Nathan eventually had to grip hold of my wrists to curtail me.

"I'm sorry! Alright, I'm so sorry! I was pissed, it was dark, one thing led to another…but I didn't know what I was doin', honestly!"

"But I bet your dick did!" I spat venomously. "I can't fucking believe you've got the audacity to say that! I fucking hate you, you complete _bastard_!" That was officially the biggest lie I'd ever told. I didn't hate Nathan- I loved him. I had to admit this at long last; why else would I be feeling such a passionate rage towards his infidelity?

Nathan visibly flinched when I said it, like I'd slapped him. "You don't mean that! I care about you, Georgia, you know that!"

"Well you've got a fucking funny way of showing it!" 'Care'. He 'cared about' me. He didn't love me. This just proved it. How could I have been so stupid as to fall in love with him?

I'd never seen Nathan look so emotional- he usually kept his walls way up high. I'd actually managed to hurt him. It was actually possible to emotionally wound Nathan Young.

I was feeling vindictive now; he'd hurt me, now I'd hurt him back ten times harder.

"I think a little part of me always knew you'd break my heart," I said bitterly. "But I chose to ignore myself. I chose my heart over my head, and this is what I get for letting my heart win. You know, way back when we were only a few weeks into community service, I had a choice. I had a choice between you and Simon, and I chose you, even though we could barely stand each other at the time. Now…now I'm wishing I'd picked Simon. He would have never treated me like this."

"What's Barry got to do with any of this?!" Nathan demanded.

I laughed coldly. "Don't you know? He used to fancy me. No, you probably didn't notice that as you were too wrapped up in your own little ego bubble. We kissed once, actually. It was nice, soft, gentle. Not like you." I was doing this deliberately, to mentally torture him. "With you it felt more like you were trying to see how far you could get your tongue down my throat."

"There's no need to get personal!" The raw emotion on Nathan's face was replaced by a much more affronted look.

"Why?" I challenged maliciously. "Can't handle the truth, Nathan? Well, too bad. The truth hurts. The truth that I can't trust you ever again is hurting me, but I've gotta handle that." This wasn't entirely true either. Even as I said it, I knew that was a lie as well. I couldn't handle it at all. My voice cracked on the 'gotta', and I started crying, hot, fat tears spurting down my face as I sobbed.

Nathan reached out to put his arms around me, but I reared away, backing up as far away from him as I possibly could, which involved pressing myself up against the wall. "Don't touch me! Don't fucking touch me! It's over, Nathan! We're done!"

"What d'you mean?" Nathan demanded, looking like he knew exactly what I meant, but he didn't want to believe it.

"Oh my God, do I need to fucking spell it out for you?!" I screeched. "WE. ARE. DONE. I'm not your girlfriend anymore, and you are _definitely _not my boyfriend anymore! It's fucking _over_!"

"C'mon George, you're not thinkin' right! I get that you're angry, and I really am sorry for doin' this to you-"

"Stop! Fucking! Saying! Sorry!" I screamed. "Don't you understand, Nathan? It isn't enough! It doesn't change anything!"

"Well what else can I fuckin' say?"

"Nothing! Okay, there is nothing else you can say! This is it! This relationship is dead! It's dead because _you _killed it, Nathan!"

There was a sudden knock at the door, making both of us jump. The door opened, and one of the hotel attendants walked in, looking faintly embarrassed.

"What?" I snarled. "What do you want?"

"Miss Riches, Mr Young, I'm sorry to, um, disturb you," he said. "But we have received a noise complaint from a guest on the floor below. Also, I have been asked to remind you that the two of you were supposed to be in a meeting with your friends and Laura ten minutes ago." Ah, shite. In the anger of the moment, we'd completely forgotten about that bloody meeting.

"Okay," I said, wiping my face with my hands and sniffing a couple of times. "Just give us…give us five more minutes. Tell Laura we'll be there in five."

"Of course," the attendant said, practically tripping over his own feet in his haste to leave the room.

A cold, bitter silence was left in his wake. Nathan and I stared at each other with hard expressions, willing the other to speak first. The red-hot anger in my chest was gone now, and had been replaced with a numb, empty feeling. I felt dead on the inside.

"You promised me fame wouldn't change us, Nathan," I said bleakly, all the fight drained from me. "You promised me that we'd stay together through this. You broke those promises. You tore them into tiny little pieces." _Just like you've done with my heart_.

"Georgia, don't say that. I-"

"Goodbye Nathan," I said with as much dignity as I could muster, turning on my heel and practically sprinting from the room. I heard Nathan calling my name behind me, and the sound of him running to catch up as I hurried down the hotel corridor and into the lift.

Oh God, now I was trapped with Nathan in a little metal box, hanging precariously over a deadly drop. _Hm, what say I just blow the emergency brakes and drop us like a sack of puppies? _I though miserably, hitting the button for the ground floor, which was where the many conference rooms were.

My heels clacked almost viciously on the marble of the ground floor lobby as I strode ahead of Nathan in the direction of the conference room we were due in. I kept a few steps in front of Nathan, not wanting to be near him. I caught sight of myself in one of the Venetian mirrors that decorated the halls, and almost stopped dead in my tracks. Bright red cheeks, eyeliner everywhere, eyes still glistening with suppressed tears. Nice and obvious for the others then.

* * *

Conference Room Four. That was the door I stood by now, hesitating to go in. I didn't want the others to see me this way. But I needed to be strong, too. There was no way I was going to let this break me. No matter how much it hurt.

"You goin' in then?" Nathan asked me.

"Don't talk to me," I replied waspishly, turning the door handle and marching inside. Oh Jesus, they were all staring at me. Kelly, Curtis, Alisha, Laura. "What? Yes, we're late, I get that! There's no need to fucking stare!" Well, didn't I just sound full of sweetness and light?

"What _happened _to you?" said Alisha, staring at me like I'd grown an extra head. "Your make-up's all fucked up. Have you been crying?"

"Yeah. Yeah I have," I growled, collapsing on a seat in between her and Curtis.

"Wot? Why?" asked Kelly.

I looked over at Nathan, scowling, which seemed to rapidly be becoming my facial expression of choice. "You wanna tell them, or shall I?"

When Nathan remained silent, Curtis looked at me. "Tell us what?"

"Me and Nathan have split up," I stated acrimoniously, folding my arms.

"No way," said Curtis, looking disbelievingly between the two of us.

"Why?" asked Alisha.

"Because-" Nathan began, but I cut across him with, "Because he can't keep his dick in his pants, that's why."

"Ya cheated on 'er?" Kelly demanded of Nathan, sounding angry.

"Nice. Classy," Curtis added sarcastically.

"You complete wanker," put in Alisha, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Look, I know it looks bad from this angle," Nathan said defensively. "But you don't all need to take her side on this! She's the one who dumped me!"

"Can you blame her?" retorted Alisha.

"Okay, stop!" I suddenly exclaimed, unable to take anymore. "Guys, I really appreciate all this but I really just _don't _want to talk about it any more, okay? It's too raw."

"Right. Well, we are going to have to issue a press statement of the split," said Laura, taking control of the situation entirely. "It's not very well-timed, but I can deal with that, put a positive spin on it so Nathan isn't put in a bad light."

"What possible 'positive spin' can you put on this?" I snapped. "He cheated, end of."

"We won't mention the unfaithfulness, and we can say that the decision to separate was mutual," Laura replied without missing a beat. "That way you don't appear cold-hearted to the public either," she added.

"Oh great, wouldn't want that, would I?" I said sarcastically.

"Now, I was just saying before you joined us," the woman continued, ignoring me. "If there is something you don't want to see in the papers, tell me now and then I can deal with it."

"I don't want anyone knowing I used to be in therapy, or that I spent time in that psychiatric unit," I said immediately.

Laura nodded. "Anybody else?"

"Everything about me's already been in the papers," Curtis said indifferently.

"Do any of your ex-boyfriends have any intimate photographs or videos of you?" Laura, looking first at Alisha.

Alisha looked significantly at Curtis. "I'll delete 'em," he said, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth.

"Make sure you do," Laura told him. She shifted her gaze to me. "And you?"

I shot Nathan a significant glare, which he caught instantly. "Aw, do I have to?!" he whined.

"Yes!" I hissed at him. "Knowing you, you'll accidentally send them to half your contact list by mistake and then I'll end up on the _Daily Star_'s Page Three or something!" God, I knew those photos would come back to haunt me. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

"Yes, make sure they are permanently deleted, both of you," Laura ordered. "Right, is there anything else I need to know?" There was a few seconds of silence, then Nathan hesitantly raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Just before I started my community service," he began. "There was an incident with this girl."

"What kind of incident?"

"Right," he muttered. "I picked her up in this dentist's waitin' room, she was havin' some kinda oral surgery. So we go out, few drinks, couple of kebabs, right? Then it's straight back to her place and start with the shaggin'." _Oh, for God's sake_. "And I've built up a nice rhythm, and I'm gettin' real close to blowin' my load- just hoverin' in the pleasure zone- and then BAM! All hell breaks loose." Nathan slumped back in his seat. "I tripled myself."

All of us- Laura included- frowned at him, as we had literally no idea what he was talking about. "Sorry, I-I'm not familiar with that term," Laura said, her professional demeanour finally cracking.

"Y'know, triplin'," Nathan prompted, to no avail. "It's when you cum, puke and shit yourself." Cue chorus of groans and retches from everyone.

"For fock sake," Kelly said disgustedly at the same time I groaned, "Jesus H. Christ."

"Three bodily functions, doin' the triple," Nathan finished, holding up three fingers. He looked at Curtis and pointed. "You're tellin' me that's never happened to you?"

"No!" Curtis retorted.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna hurl again," I bemoaned.

"Anyway, I lied about my name so she probably doesn't even remember me," Nathan added.

"I don't think she's _ever _forgetting you," Alisha told him.

Laura had to take a moment to collect herself. "Anyone else?"

"Er, I shagged a monkey," Kelly announced nonchalantly.

"Technically it was a gorilla," Nathan chipped in. This was clearly the straw that broke the camel's back for Laura. Apparently she hadn't realised quite what she was taking on when she decided to represent us.

"Very well," Laura said, trying to remain patient. "I shall do my best to ensure none of this comes out in the press. Now, there are a few things that I must be getting on with arranging, some PR meetings and the press release announcing Georgia and Nathan's break up. I expect to see all of you this afternoon at the sponsors' and spectators' luncheon. Good morning to you all." And with that, Laura stood up and quickly vacated the room.

"I'm going as well," I said quietly, standing up as well. "I'll see you guys at the luncheon thing." I walked past everyone- fully aware of their eyes all being trained on me- and out the door, taking care to stand on Nathan's foot as I went past.

* * *

"FUCK IT ALL! FUCK THIS WORLD! FUCK EVERYTHING THAT YOU STAND FOR! DON'T BELONG! DON'T EXIST! DON'T GIVE A SHIT! DON'T EVER JUDGE ME!" I screamed when I was back in my hotel room, blasting out Slipknot's _Surfacing _from my iPhone docking station, past caring that I was probably disturbing the other guests. I'd been alone in my room for almost an hour and a half, playing angry music and tearing my room to shreds. Literally. I'd managed to rip one of the sofa cushions with my long false nails, and I'd strewn the contents of the bed all over the floor, and knocked over three vases of pink roses. I was a damaged person, just a twisted shell of my former self.

I collapsed to the floor, lying curled up in the foetal position, and wept and wept and wept. With every sob I could practically feel another part of my broken heart splintering away. I was so wrapped up in myself- and the music was playing so loudly- that I failed to notice my door open, and I also failed to notice someone sitting on my now-stripped bed. It was only when they said my name did I actually realise.

"Georgia?"

"Holy Jesus, Simon!" I cried, pulling myself into a kneeling position. "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's fine," I said, wiping my eyes. "I've missed you, dude. It's not been right without you here."

"I've missed you too. Your hair is different," he noted.

" it is," I said, tugging at a black-and-red strand of it. "According to Laura my old style was too 'bland'. So listen, how long have you been here? Scratch that, why _are_ you here?"

"My parents started freaking out over me being able to turn invisible, so I came here. I only arrived this morning. I'm going to be staying with Nathan," he said.

"This morning? How are you staying with Nathan? When did you see him?" Simon wouldn't meet my eye. "Fuck. You were invisible in his room this morning, weren't you?" Simon nodded. "You saw everything?"

Another nod. "Yeah. I'm so sorry, Georgia. I had no idea what was going on when I walked in. They were all awake, I assumed that you knew, then when you did arrive and Nathan started acting guiltily I realised you didn't know. I can't believe it. I should have stopped him."

"How could you have done?" I said dully. "You weren't there last night, you weren't to know." I stood up and sat down on the bed next to him. "The one thing I don't want you to say to me though is 'sorry'. I've heard enough 'sorry's today."

"Okay then, I'll try to remember. But can I ask you something?"

"Sure, hit me."

"Why did you tell Nathan we kissed?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Si. I guess I was trying to hurt him the way he hurt me, and since you're the nearest thing Nathan has to a close friend, that was the first thing I thought of. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I just wanted to know. It seems stupid for you to be apologising when you must be hurting a lot."

Now it was my turn to nod, and a felt a fresh wave of tears hit me and started pouring down my face. "It hurts so fucking much, Simon. I feel like someone's stuck a knife in my heart and cleaved it. I feel so emotional and sick and it's almost physically causing me actual _pain_!" I leaned my head down onto his shoulder, pleased for the solidity his presence provided me with. "I love him, Simon. I love him so much and now it's completely over between us. I miss him so much, and it's all my fault that we're not together."

Simon's arms came around me in a hug that was vaguely maladroit because of my half-sideways position. "It isn't your fault. Don't think that." I allowed Simon to keep his hold on me while I bawled into his shoulder.

"I can't _help _but think that! I know I did the right thing, kind of, but I'm still wishing I hadn't done it! I still want him, Simon. I still need him. But it's just too late."

* * *

"_I love you more than I did before,  
And if today I don't see your face,  
Nothing's changed,  
No one can take your place,  
It gets harder every day. […]  
Well, I tried to live without you,  
The tears fall from my eyes.  
I'm alone and I feel empty,  
God, I'm torn apart inside."  
_**-Miley Cyrus, "Stay"**

* * *

**A/N- Oh God, DRAMA, guys! Don't hate me! But they needed to break up so there can be the whole 'STI' and 'Daisy' shit going down. Sorry, but it had to be done. I want to know how you guys reacted to the split scene- loved it? Hated it? Lemme know! Reviews are a good way to do that! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- Congratulations to Kate Middleton and Prince William on the birth of their son, the future king of my home, England!**

**References:**

**Well, I'm pretty sure there's an Elvis Presley song called 'Heartbreak Hotel', so I guess I should put that as a reference, really.**

"…**trapped in a little metal box, hanging precariously over a deadly drop. What say I just blow the emergency brakes and drop you like a sack of puppies" is said by Joker in **_**Batman: Arkham Asylum**_**.**


	37. Lifestyle Of The Rich And Famous

**A/N- A new character in this chapter! Oooh, who will it be? ;) Lots of epic thanks to meganlloyd16, Beebopalula and Becca for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Seven- Lifestyle Of The Rich And Famous**

Make-up. Hairstyles. Expensive clothes. Designer shoes. None of it mattered anymore. It just didn't fucking _matter_. Huh, that was a new one for me. I wasn't caring about my appearance. _Why should I bother? _I thought gloomily, sitting in the middle of my wardrobe, staring at the row of dresses in front of me. I knew why I should bother. To prove to the others- and myself- that I wasn't a victim. That I could get through this bloody 'luncheon' and the rest of my life without Nathan.

I wasn't a victim. I wasn't a victim. I wasn't a victim. _I wasn't a victim. I wasn't a victim. I wasn't a victim. I WASN'T A VICTIM!_

"I won't let this break me!" I shouted aloud.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Simon's concerned voice floated through the open wardrobe door, and I turned around to see him standing in the doorway, his face creased with worry.

"Fuck. I'd forgotten you were in here," I said, running my hands through my recently shorn hair. "Not that it's a problem. It's just I can feel myself working into another mental breakdown. I give it approximately a week before I'm carted off back to the unit."

"Don't say that about yourself," Simon said, coming into the wardrobe and sitting down next to me. "You're strong enough to get through this. I've seen you fight through things worse than this."

"Trust me, the only thing that's managed to get me through half the shit that's gone on in the last couple of months is you, Simon. You're like another brother to me."

Simon smiled at me, a sympathetic smile that came with a reassuring hand on my knee. "Have you heard anything from your family since all this started?"

"I got a phone call from my mum asking why the fuck I hadn't told them I had a power, and was this why Lola had come home with a singed jacket the last time she came to visit me? Oh, and also a quick remark on how my new hair looked ridiculous and that it made me look like a Goth. No, 'hey, how are you? Good to talk again'. Great, great conversation."

There was a knock on the door, making both of us jump slightly.

"Shit, that must be the stylists," I said, hopping to my feet. "You might want to consider turning invisible again. Awkward questions may be asked otherwise." I waited until I knew Simon had vanished to open the door to my style team. Laura had assigned to each of us a stylist, a make-up artist and a hairdresser. In my case, I had Cassie the stylist, Anastasia the make-up artist and Jez the hairdresser. All of them were relatively nice, but when it came to people's appearances they could be extremely bitchy.

"Doll, you look like shit," Anastasia informed me in her New York accent.

"Yeah, cheers. Erm, rough night," I muttered.

"That boyfriend of yours keep you up, did he?" giggled Cassie, going into my wardrobe.

I'd forgotten the break-up wasn't public knowledge yet, so I simply nodded, sitting down at the theatre-style dressing table in the corner of my bedroom. I peered at myself in the mirror. Flushed cheeks, shiny eyes, bedraggled hair from where I'd been running my hands through it. "Oh God, I look like I've just crawled out of a grave. Just tell me you can cover all this up, Anastasia."

She laughed, dumping her make-up case on the dressing table. "That's why I'm here, chica."

* * *

I really, _really _didn't want to do this. Socialising and mingling were far, far down on my list of priorities right now. God, I felt as shit as I had after my parents had kicked me out. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to be in people's company. Hell, I barely wanted to move. And yet, here I was, walking in to that sham of a cocktail luncheon to present my fiery self to people who may wish to sponsor me or else book me for some other ridiculous PR stunt. Jesus, the room was crowded as I pushed my way through the throngs of people.

I looked good, there was no denying. Anastasia had done my make-up to perfection: vampy red lips, dramatic sweeping eyeliner and big false eyelashes with little red feathers in. Jez had puffed out my hair with a hairdryer then backcombed it so forcefully I thought he was going to rip half of it out. Instead, it now fanned out around my head like a dark lion's mane, hairsprayed into submission. Cassie had dressed me in a tight, short red peplum dress made of lace with a plunging V-neckline, and I was also wearing seriously high studded black platform Louboutins. Yes, Louboutins. I'd actually managed to own a pair of Louboutins in my life, so I guess something good _had _come out of all this.

I could see Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and Nathan standing over to the right of the room, but before I went over to them I made a beeline straight to the bar. I clambered up on to one of the stools with my back to the group, not wanting to make any cases of awkward eye contact.

"Champagne, Miss?" the bartender asked me courteously.

"No thanks," I mumbled. Too weak. "A Monster Energy with a double shot of vodka please." The drink of the classy- not. I was also totally ignoring my citric acid allergy, as energy drinks were packed full of the stuff. The bartender looked as though he was thinking of asking me for ID, which was stupid because he had just offered me champagne. He disappeared to the other end of the bar while I pulled my iPhone out of my little black clutch bag and absent-mindedly pretended to be texting.

A glass of off-gold-coloured Monster suddenly appeared in front of me, followed by a pair of hands pouring in two shots of Stolichnaya vodka. I grabbed the glass and downed almost half of it at once. "Thanks," I said to the bartender, picking up the glass and hopping down from the barstool, finally deciding to go and meet the others.

"'Sup, shitheads," I said when I joined them, putting on what I hoped was a convincing show of 'I'm totally, utterly, completely, one hundred percent fine', rather than 'I'm breaking into a million pieces on the inside'. I grinned at them, but the grin was so stretched it felt like my face was going to split in two.

"Are ya awight?" asked Kelly, looking more than a little concerned. She looked really nice, in a black and white body-con-type dress. In fact, everyone looked really nice. Alisha was wearing a grey blazer atop of an animal print playsuit, Curtis was in a designer tracksuit and Nathan was wearing a black and white-checked shirt open over a black t-shirt with a pair of expensive-looking jeans. It wasn't exactly 'formal', but as close to formal as Nathan could get. He was looking at me intently, but I was doing my best to ignore both him and the rush of desire I felt seeing him again. He looked good…really good. _Bad Georgia! He broke your heart not twelve hours ago!_

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied, taking a sip of my drink to steady my nerves. Nathan exhaled sharply when I said this. _Stop staring at me! Stop it! _"Well, the crowds are making me slightly uncomfortable, but I'm sure I'll suck it up soon enough." Oh God, I was starting to babble.

"You look nice," said Alisha. "Better than you did this morning."

"Yeah, thanks. I know, smudged make-up is only good when it's deliberate," I said with a false grin, pointing at my raccooned eyes.

"You look pretty hot," Nathan piped up, and I fixed him with a cool stare. And by 'cool stare' I mean 'scowl that could curdle fresh milk into stilton cheese'. He suddenly started choking on the canapé he was eating.

"Oh for fuck sake," I sighed, turning away from him. I was seriously ill at ease being in his presence after this morning, especially since a lot of 'I hate you's and 'fuck off's and 'we're done's were thrown around. Mostly by me, but still.

"Close your mouth!" Curtis hissed at him as people started to stare.

"Sorry, sorry," Nathan choked out, swallowing a couple of times. "It went down the wrong hole."

"Hi," a sudden weedy voice said. We all turned, and came face-to-face with Milk Kid himself, the little twat who was the reason we were all here. The reason we were all famous. The reason I no longer had a boyfriend. "Good to see you."

I already wanted to punch the kid.

"Oh, you're that milk guy, innit?" Curtis said, in a tone that said he only just recognized the kid.

"It's not just milk, it's all dairy products," Milk Kid replied smugly.

"Oh, whoop-de-fucking-do," I muttered. So the bastard could make a milkshake float. Big fucking deal.

"So you're here to make the coffees then?" Nathan asked cuttingly.

"I'm done making other people coffee," the guy replied defensively. "People make _my _coffee now."

"So…what's the point in having your power?" drawled Alisha, making a face.

"Were you one of those fat kids who had milk seepin' out of his man-boobs durin' puberty?" taunted Nathan, moving in front of Milk Kid, that oh-so familiar wicked gleam in his eye.

"No," the boy said, apparently at a complete loss for words for how to respond.

"We had a kid like that at our school! We used to milk him every lunchtime," Nathan continued, moving round the kid.

"I wasn't one of those kids," the guy insisted, but it was too late- Nathan already had his arms around the kid and was rubbing at the kid's chest. "Get off me! What are you doing?" In spite of myself, I started laughing, as did the others. If I'd've had a camera with me, I would have filmed the whole thing to put on YouTube.

"I'm milkin' you!" Nathan said with a grin. "Ah, this reminds me of school! That was some good times!"

"Fuck off!" Milk Kid exclaimed angrily, finally managing to rip himself from Nathan's grasp.

"That's what the kid at our school used to say," Nathan told the rest of us. "And he had a nervous breakdown!" The kid looked absolutely furious as well as humiliated. He threw Nathan a glare that put mine to shame before turning around and skulking away.

"Hm. I think that may have been a very bad idea on your part, Nathan," I told him, speaking directly to him for the first time in hours.

"Why? What's he gonna do to me, Georgia?" He looked faintly relieved that I wasn't screaming at him.

"I dunno, but he didn't look exactly…stable," I murmured, staring after the kid and taking another sip of my drink as Nathan grabbed another canapé off of a tray from a passing waitress and shoved it in his mouth.

"Nathan!" Laura suddenly called, appearing out of nowhere. Jesus, was the woman wired to us somehow? "How would you feel about blowing your brains out live on national TV tomorrow night?"

"Um," he said, considering it. "Yeah, I'm definitely up for that."

"Can I be the one who shoots him in the head?" I asked sweetly, mostly to show Nathan that I absolutely _had not _forgiven him so quickly.

"No," Laura said simply. "We have other television plans for you, Georgia."

"Seriously?" I said dubiously. "It's not gonna be some cheesy cliché shit where I have to set fire to some kind of food is it?"

"No," Laura said again. "It's something I'm sure you'll benefit from greatly, but at the moment I can't tell you anything else." And then she moved on to discussing with Nathan how the 'shooting himself in the head' would go down, with Nathan chucking out a lot of his own ideas. Naturally they involved him just being on his own in front of the camera.

"…maybe a tuxedo, whaddaya think?" he finished as I facepalmed. A tuxedo. No truism there then.

"Why not?" Laura said appraisingly. _Er, because it's just about the world's biggest cliché! _I felt like shouting. Someone dying in a tuxedo, I ask you. "They're planning on filming it at the community centre," she added.

"Oh, right, right, so it's like a whole, 'goin' back to my roots' kinda vibe," Nathan said seriously.

There was a sudden uproar from all the reporters at the front of the room, all of them clicking their cameras furiously and shouting out, "Daisy! Daisy!"

"Who's she?" asked Kelly as we watched a pretty girl dressed in a long flowing floral dress walked into the room, followed by a couple of bodyguards and a crowd of people all calling her name.

"That's Daisy," Laura informed us. "More and more people with powers are coming forward."

"What can she do?" said Alisha.

"She can heal people. Any illness, any disease. She plans to cure the world. She's like a pretty modern-day Mother Theresa with a superpower," Laura answered. "She is going to make a fortune."

We all watched as a man in a wheelchair pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Though Daisy's bodyguards initially tried to detain him, Daisy instructed them to let the man through. She leaned forward to say something to the man, then started rubbing his legs. After a few seconds, she stopped her rubbing and stood up, taking a couple of steps back from the man. Gradually and hesitantly, the man climbed to his feet, and took a two of three steps before promptly falling over. There was a communal gasp from everyone watching- par one laugh, which of course came from Nathan- but the man was almost instantly back on his feet, pulling Daisy into a tearful hug.

"Bloody hell," I said, widening my eyes. "She's basically Jesus. But female."

"Nice analogy, lo-" Nathan began with a smirk, but I kicked him in the shin with my studded stiletto, hard, causing him to yelp.

"Don't call me 'love'," I said fiercely. "And don't make jokes with me. You lost all right to do that when you shagged those skanks." There was an unexpected sound of a phone ringing, and I quickly checked mine. Nope, not me. That was when I saw Laura answering hers. I overheard her conversation (not that it was hard to. She was only standing a foot away from me).

"He's here? Excellent. Right, get the camera crews to the hotel lobby, tell them the live reunion is ready," she said briskly, before hanging up her phone and turning to me. "Georgia, you're needed in the hotel lobby." She then proceeded to call over Nathan, Curtis, Alisha and Kelly, telling us all to follow her.

"What's going on?" I said, hurrying my pace to keep up with Laura's professional paces.

"This is your television spot I was telling you about," Laura said.

"Then why are they all here?" I asked, gesturing at the others. I heard four separate indignant grumbles. "Not that I'm not glad to have you all here."

"Witnesses," Laura answered simply as we entered the lobby, which was buzzing with people and camera crews, putting her phone to her ear. "She's here. Bring him through."

"Seriously, _what _is going on?" I asked again as Laura pushed me forward, but she just told me to shut up and look at the doors. So I did. Or at least, looked at the crowd by the doors. A crowd that dispersed quickly, revealing a single figure flanked by two members of the hotel's security. A small figure with mousy brown hair, who was dressed in little denim cut-offs and a red Iron Man t-shirt…no. It wasn't! It was! It was him! My little brother!

"Charlie!" I cried.

It was like a scene from a Disney movie. A huge smile appeared on Charlie's face- a look I'm sure was reflected on my own face- and he started sprinting towards me, his arms open, his little backpack bouncing between his shoulder blades. I fell to my knees, not caring I was getting my bare knees dirty, and swiftly fell backwards onto my arse when Charlie collided with me, his arms tight around my neck. I could hear the others behind me laughing supportively. My wrapped my arms tight around his waist and stood up, spinning Charlie around in a circle as I started crying. Happy tears, obviously.

Feeling dizzy, I stopped the spinning- especially as I'd almost collided with the group- and just stood there, holding my little brother in my arms and grinning and grinning at him.

"Did you get all of that?" I heard Laura ask one of the cameramen, and I suddenly walked over to her, reluctantly setting Charlie down and telling him I'd be back in a second.

"What are you talking about? Get all of what?" I hissed. "My little brother isn't just some kind of PR stunt, Laura!"

"No, he isn't, but imagine the boost in your profile when your reunion is broadcast," she replied. "It's the very thing you've always wanted- to be reunited with your estranged little brother. Are you telling me you didn't _want _this?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying-"

"Good," Laura interrupted. "I have arranged with your parents for Charlie to stay here in the hotel with you for a week, and they have agreed to allow him to be filmed and photographed so I expect him to be with you at all meetings, parties, lunches et cetera."

I snorted. "Yeah, and how did you manage to persuade them to agree to that?"

"I paid them." _Of course_. "Is that all?"

"Yeah," I muttered, turning my back on her. "That's all." I could see Charlie chatting with Kelly, Curtis, Alisha and Nathan, and I was faintly horrified to see him chatting most animatedly with Nathan. _Ah, shit. Bad call, bad call! _I thought, hurrying over to them and scooping Charlie back into my arms again, making him laugh. "Hey there little Smelly Cat."

"Hey Loki!" he giggled, using his nickname for me since he'd first watched _Avengers Assemble _just because he knew it pissed me off.

"So how'd you like the VIP treatment?" I asked him.

"It was so awesome!" he replied excitedly. "That lady sent people in a limo to pick me up, and there was a TV actually _in _the limo and the people let me put on any movie I wanted so I picked _The Dark Knight _even though Mummy and Daddy don't let me watch it because they think it will scare me! And there were lots of sweets and chocolates in the limo and I ate two Mars bars and a Galaxy bar and a giant packet of Haribo!"

"God, you are so my brother," I said fondly. "Better make sure you don't get jiggled around too much or you might puke on me!"

"Your hair is different," he pointed out with a frown, pulling at it.

"Ow! Damn it Charlie, that hurt!"

"Sorry! But why did you change it?"

"Because I wanted to," I said with a shrug.

"It looks very pretty," Charlie said, giving me another hug. "All of you looks pretty. You look famous."

"That's because I _am _famous, darling," I said, putting on a teasing posh voice. "I'm a star."

Charlie laughed again. "I've missed you, Georgie."

"I've missed you too, little man," I said, tearing up again. Scared I'd properly start crying again, I set him down on the floor, and turned him to face the others. "So little bro, meet the people I'm sometimes ashamed to call my friends. You've got Kelly, Curtis, Alisha and Nathan," I told him, pointing at each of them.

"You're Georgia's boyfriend, aren't you?" Charlie asked Nathan. "My mummy showed me the magazine you were both in together." Oh, FUCK. Why, _why _would he ask that?! Why now!? WHY TODAY?!

Nathan and I made seriously awkward eye contact for a few seconds before I cleared my throat. "No, Charlie. Nathan isn't my boyfriend."

"Yes he is," Charlie said plainly. "That magazine said he was."

"Okay, yes, Nathan _was_ my boyfriend." _Please can we just stop this conversation._

"You mean he isn't anymore?" Charlie asked. I nodded. "Why? He's funny. He said he'd take me to get a beer!"

"Oh did he now?" I said, glaring at Nathan who raised his hands in a surrendering manner. "Well, he was just joking. And you're way too young for beer, you know that."

"You drink it," Charlie said sulkily.

"Yes, I do," I said. "Well, not beer as such. But that's because I'm eighteen. You're eight. Ten year age gap, my friend. You're also too young to understand why Nathan and I broke up. Let's just say it was getting too _crowded _in our relationship." I took Charlie's hand. "Right, come on, dipstick. Time for you to see the room. Catch you guys later," I added to the others, walking towards the lift. I didn't take a second glance at Nathan.

* * *

"Oh my God, this room is awesome!" Charlie shouted gleefully the second I opened the room's door.

"The exact same reaction I had," I said, grinning as Charlie started jumping on the bed. "Oi! Shoes off, Char! And stop fucking up my duvet! The maid just sorted it out!"

"Sorry," he said quickly, kicking off his Vans and dropping down onto the mattress.

"It's fine, bub," I said, grabbing the TV remote. "Come on then let's watch a movie; I've got a huge DVD selection." I collapsed onto the sofa- and landed on something. "FUCKING HELL! SIMON!" I shrieked, scrambling backwards and landing on the floor as he materialised, rubbing his chest where I must have slammed my back against him.

"Sorry!" he said, quickly standing up and helping me to my feet.

"Why were you still invisible!? I've been in the room for like three minutes!"

"Well…" Simon looked over at Charlie, who was staring back at Simon with a rapt expression.

"You can turn invisible?!" Charlie demanded, jumping down from the bed and hurrying over to Simon, staring up at him like he'd never seen a human being before. Simon looked completely startled that Charlie was so fascinated by him. He nodded a couple of times, looking at me to help. I smiled.

"Charlie, this is my friend Simon," I said, putting my arm around Charlie's shoulders. "Yes, he can turn invisible."

"Hi!" Charlie exclaimed happily, waving. "That's so cool! You're like Invisible Woman from _Fantastic Four_! Or maybe Violet from _The Incredibles_! But obviously, you're a boy and they're girls, but it's still really cool that-"

I clamped my hand down over his mouth, effectively cutting off most of Charlie's babbles. "As you can see, he picked up my conversational skills. Now, shut up Charlie and give Simon a hug." This was going to be entertaining. And sure enough, neither party disappointed as Charlie hurled himself at Simon and Simon looked highly uncomfortable as he patted Charlie awkwardly on the head while I laughed, "Okay, group hug!" and threw my arms around the two of them, my two favourite boys in the world. Maybe I would be able to get through this, as long as Charlie and Simon were with me…

"Come on then, let's watch a movie," I said, releasing the boys from my stranglehold. "What are we feeling?"

"_Avengers_!" Charlie yelled excitedly as I pulled a can of Coke from my mini-fridge.

"Okay, kiddo," I said, crouching down to grab the DVD from the selection by the oversized flat screen TV.

"Are you Georgia's new boyfriend?" I heard Charlie innocently ask Simon, and I promptly choked on the Coke I'd just taken a sip of.

"N-no," Simon stuttered, sounding quite frightened.

"Oi, I'm not that bad!" I retorted. "Simon's my best friend, Charlie. _Not _my boyfriend, he's not my type." I winked at Simon, who smiled back.

"I didn't think so," Charlie said seriously. "He seems too nice. Mummy said you only ever go out with dickheads." Cue Coke Choke número dos.

"Charlie, don't use that word!" I spluttered. "And that's not true! Besides, what does Mum know? I've only ever had three boyfriends, and one of them she never even met!" I was grumbling now, highly irritated that Mum had been saying this.

"I should probably go," Simon said awkwardly, moving towards the door.

"Alright then," I said, running my hand through my hair. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" Simon nodded, and then he was gone. Damn invisibility. I'm not going to lie, it made me feel highly uncomfortable that he was staying with Nathan, but then again, who else could he go to? Not Kelly, Curtis or Alisha. He could have stayed with me, but it probably made him feel uncomfortable, staying with a girl. I turned to Charlie, who was raiding the fridge.

"Right then, Batman, stick the DVD in the player and get the movie ready. I'm just gonna go change into my jammies," I said, kissing the top of his head before going into the wardrobe. I'd be okay. I knew I would be. Charlie and Simon…they'd make me be okay.

* * *

Watching movies with Charlie had always been one of my favourite past times back when I had lived at home. I was the reason he loved _Batman_, _Star Wars _and _The Avengers_. I had been slowly working on getting him into _Star Trek _before Charlie was ripped from my life. One of the best things about it, though, was being able to quote along to a movie with him.

"You don't know what you are dealing with," I said along with Thor.

"Er, Shakespeare in the park?" replied Charlie in unison with Iron Man.

"Doth Mother know you weareth her drapes?" we exclaimed in unison, both of us burst out laughing, and Charlie clambered onto my lap to give me what must have been the tenth hug of the day. There was a knock at the door. I was tempted to ignore it and just carry on with the film, but the person knocked again, a lot more urgently this time.

"Oh for God's sake," I said, nudging Charlie off my lap. "Right fatty, move it. I need to get the door." He obediently moved aside to let me get up. I adjusted the pink PJ shorts I was wearing and padded over to the door in my slipper boots, not bothering to look through the peephole as I opened the door. Nathan was standing at the door, looking perturbed. "Oh. It's you," I said coldly. "What do you want, Nathan?"

"Can I come in?" he asked, and for the first time, he actually seemed nervous. "I kinda need to talk to you."

I hesitated, then moved aside with a sigh. "Fine. You've got five minutes, then I want you out of here." _And out of my life_.

"Right," he muttered, walking into the room.

"Hi Nathan!" exclaimed Charlie, his head popping up over the top of the sofa.

"Hey little man," Nathan replied, going over to him and giving him a high-five. "How's it goin'!"

And to think. This time yesterday I would have been ecstatic to see the two of them interacting together.

"So what do you want?" I asked, desperate to stop the conversation between them.

"Right," Nathan said, suddenly looking vaguely shamefaced. "Look, don't kill me or nothin', but I seem to have a wee bit of a problem."

"Why the fuck are you asking me for help? What 'problem', anyway?" I folded my arms, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Well…I seem to have contracted an STI from someone…" he started guiltily.

"What?! Why the hell are you telling me _that_!?" I exclaimed.

"I just wanted to know if…look, you are like, clean and shit, right?" He couldn't even meet my eye.

"You better not be insinuating what I think you're insinuating," I said dangerously.

"Look, I just need to double-check! Y'know, make sure all my options are closed before I stick the blame to one girl."

"Oh you have _got _to be kidding me! You're asking if it was _me _who gave you an STI!?" I shrieked.

"I know it seems unlikely, but we did shag the mornin' before we…y'know, split!" he said defensively.

"Nathan!" I yelped, gesturing at Charlie. "A child is in the room! Have a little mind-filter for a change! Besides, you know what this is, don't you?"

"Er, no. Not really, no."

"Karma," I replied, smirking. "This is the universe's way of showing you what a complete wanker you've been."

"Sometimes I think I preferred it when you were all mopin' and shit! Now you're just gettin' personal!"

"What's an STI?" Charlie suddenly piped up. Shit.

* * *

A few hours later, I had managed to convince Nathan that it definitely had _not _been me who had given him the STI, and told him that he should probably go to the doctors. He- somewhat cryptically- told me that he already had an idea on how to cure himself. I was half-offended. What possessed him to think it was _me _who gave it to him!? I was pretty sure that the symptoms would have shown up a lot quicker had it have been me.

I was lying in bed wide awake later that night, my head reeling and unable to sleep. I finally allowed myself to think of what had happened today. What had I done? I'd broken up with the only boy I'd ever loved, the only boy I'd ever properly cared about. The only boy I was certain I'd ever envisaged a proper future with.

This was killing me. I felt worse than I had when Nathan broke with me because of that goddamn 'Simon' tattoo, worse than when I'd thought Nathan was dead, worse than I had when my parents had thrown me out. I just wanted to curl up somewhere and die slowly, but I couldn't. I had Charlie to care for now. Little Charlie, my baby brother, who was curled up on the sofa underneath his little blue spaceship sleeping bag.

I got out of bed and tiptoed over to him, checking that he was fast asleep, before going and locking myself in the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet and succumbed to the tears. It wasn't hard. Almost as soon as I thought of the day's events again, one tear fell, followed by another, and another until eventually I was sobbing my heart out. _This is all my fault_.

I remembered how Nathan had acted with Charlie, and that made me remember Future Simon's picture. I'd completely fucked up the future. I wasn't going to have a baby now. I'd never have the family I wanted to have with Nathan, because I'd killed. Our. Future.

I thought of my newfound fame. I had everything I'd ever wanted; I had money, I had designer clothes, I had a style team, I even had Charlie back. But I still wanted the one thing from my former life, and I'd never get him back now.

_Nathan_.

Just his name made my heart rip apart just a little bit more.

* * *

"_She__'__s so lucky, she__'__s a star,  
But she cry, cry, cries,  
In her lonely heart, thinking,__'  
__If there__'__s nothing,  
Missing in my life,  
Then why do these,  
Tears come at night?__'"  
_**-Britney Spears, ****"****Lucky****"**

* * *

**A/N- So, whatcha think? I quite like it. I hope y'all do to. So review guys! Let me know! I love you all! Xx Gee xX**


	38. Unspoken Words

**A/N- Hey! I'm baaack! And in the words of The Joker, 'I'm tanned, I'm rested, and I'm ready to give this ol' town a wedgie again!' And by 'town' I mean FanFiction. Ooh! Best to let y'all know that I've gone back and changed the ending of the previous chapter! I was in a hurry to upload it before I went off on holiday, so I kinda rushed the ending, and when I read it back I decided I really didn't like it. In fact, it basically sucked dick. Hence…redo. Check it out if you haven't already! Big, big thanks to therealjainasolo (x4), LunaEvanna Longbottom, William, Becca, Beebopalula, SabrinaTeenagedB and marleeniico for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Eight- Unspoken Words**

"_Don't listen what your girlfriend says,  
She reads those magazines.  
They say you've failed the test,  
You don't have what she needs.  
I slither like a vi-_"

"Georgia! Georgia! Your phone is ringing!" Charlie's voice filtered into my hazy subconscious, and I felt a small set of hands shaking my shoulders. "Georgia! Wake up!"

"Whaa-?" I mumbled thickly, opening my eyes and sitting up. Charlie was kneeling next to me on the king-sized bed, jabbing my iPhone at me, which was vibrating and blaring out _Love Bites_. The phone, I mean, not Charlie. "Oh Jesus!" I quickly grabbed the phone from him, gesturing at him to go back to sleep on the sofa while I myself got up and made my way into the bathroom, looking at the phone screen to see the time and caller. Okay, why the _fuck _was Laura calling me at six fifteen in the morning? "Hello?"

"Nice of you to answer your phone, Georgia," Laura's professional bark came through the phone, making me recoil from the earpiece as I locked the bathroom door and sat down on the edge of the bath.

"Oh, you have _got _to be kidding me!" I exclaimed irritably, rubbing my eyes with my other hand. "It's bloody quarter past six! Why would I even be _awake_ now!? I was up till about one in the morning, for God's sake!"

"No one cares," she replied dismissively. "There has been a serious incident involving Nathan."

"Oh for fuck sake," I grumbled. "I already told him it wasn't me who gave him that goddamn STI!"

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

Okay, clearly I wasn't talking about the same 'serious incident' she was. "Erm, nothing. That's not important. Carry on. What's happened?"

"I'd rather not discuss the matter over the phone. I just want you to meet in my hotel room in half an hour to discuss this with the rest of The ASBO Six."

"Right. Am I supposed to be bringing Charlie to this meeting, or is it not _public_ enough?" I let just enough venom and irritation seep into my voice.

However, from her tone, Laura wasn't at all fazed. "No, this is a private matter."

"So you just want me to leave an eight-year-old on his own in an unfamiliar hotel room until I get back, which could be God knows how long!?"

"Yes," she said simply and bluntly. Again with the being unfazed! I swore the woman was a Human-Cyborg Relations droid like C-3PO from _Star Wars_! She certainly had about as much emotion as one. "Be in my hotel room in half an hour." And she hung up on me. Just like that.

"Impassive bitch," I muttered, locking my phone and coming out of the bathroom. I wandered back into the living room where Charlie had indeed fallen back asleep on the sofa. "Hey Pidge! Wake up, honey-bundle!" I cooed gently, kneeling by the sofa and lightly poking him in the belly. "Come on, Charlie, time to get up!"

"Whyyy?" he moaned, his green eyes fluttering open.

"Because I need to go out for a little while," I said, stroking his hair out of his eyes.

"Where are you going?" he asked curiously, sitting up in his cute little Superman onesie.

"I've got to go to a meeting with my manager, Laura," I told him, giving him a hug before turning on the TV. "So I need to go have a shower and get ready. What do you want to watch? We've got _Ben 10_,_ Young Justice_,_ Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated_ or_ The Fairly Odd Parents._"

"_Young Justice_!" Charlie said contently, so I flicked the TV on to Cartoon Network.

"Good call, my young friend," I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, then going to have a shower. I tried to be as quick as possible, washing my hair rapidly before clambering out of the shower and tying it back with a red ribbon, not bothering to dry it except by rubbing over it with a towel.

There was no freakin' way I was even _considering _wearing sparkly or overly tight or uncomfortable that early in the morning, so I chucked on a pair of black leggings, a longish red vest and a pair of black Ugg boots. Fuck fashion, I was tired. I barely applied a scrap of make-up, literally just a swoop of eyeliner and a dab of concealer and I was done.

"Right, Charlie Brown, I hopefully won't be too long!" I called to him as I dashed around dumping a packet of Cookie Crisp cereal and a bowl on the little table, along with a carton of milk. "Breakfast stuff is on the table, and I'm locking you in!"

"Okay!" Charlie called back distractedly, eyes trained on the TV. Honestly, kids and cartoons. Sighing, I grabbed by handbag and left, locking the door firmly behind me.

* * *

By the time I arrived at Laura's hotel room, the others were already there. Kelly, Curtis and Alisha all looked equally puzzled as to why we'd all been called down. Only Nathan looked like he had a clue about what was going on, an expression that was crossed with one of complete panic, with some guilt mixed in as well.

"What the _fuck _is going on?!" I demanded the second I burst through the door. "Why have I been dragged down here at fucking quarter to seven in the morning? I could have easily had another two and a half hours of sleep! And FYI," I added, rounding on Nathan. "If I get back to my hotel room and Charlie's set the place of fire, I'm blaming _you_." I jabbed him sharply in the chest on the 'you', which was the most physical contact we'd had in twenty-four hours.

"Bad night?" mocked Curtis.

"Can you tell?" I retorted, collapsing in a chair and retying my unravelling hair ribbon. "But seriously. All irritation and exhaustion aside, why _are _we here? Where's Laura?"

"Dunno," said Alisha, adjusting her grey top as she sat down. Clearly she also hadn't dressed for fashion this morning.

"Jesus Christ," I exclaimed, slumping further down in my seat. "Then why are we here?!"

"Because Daisy is dead." Laura walked through the open door, and her usual blasé tenor had been replaced by a hassled tone that also held a note of…remorse? No, regret was more likely. Regret that she'd lost out on the money Daisy's power would make her.

I won't pretend that any of us acted particularly surprised or saddened by the news. We'd all seen so many dead bodies and committed so many murders over the last few months that we all barely batted an eyelid. But I will admit that I wasn't expecting it. Saint Daisy, Ms Mother-Theresa-slash-Female-Jesus, was dead.

"Let me get this straight," I said. "Daisy's dead? What the fuck happened?! Oh God, Nathan, what did you do?!"

"It was an accident!" he whined. "She was helpin' me with a little, er, problem of mine-" he shot me a meaningful look as he said this, then it all connected together. Oh Jesus. He'd gone to ask Daisy to rub his dick and cure him of that STI. "-then she suddenly started foamin' at the mouth, then she tripped, and she got skewered on her Mother Theresa Young Humanitarian Of The Year award!"

"Please tell me you just made that up," I said pleadingly, standing up and going over to him and looking him dead in the eye, which involved me craning my head up quite a bit as Nathan was about a head taller than me. "Please tell me that you honestly weren't stupid enough to go and ask her what I think you were stupid enough to go and ask her!"

"Well you weren't exactly much help, were you?" he retorted.

"What the fuck could I have done about it?! It wasn't _my _fault!"

"I'm not sayin' it was, I'm just sayin'-"

"You are totally saying this is my fault!"

"Not everythin' is about you, y'know!"

"I never said it was, so don't start your shit!"

"I'm not startin' any shi-"

"_Enough_!" Laura suddenly snapped, irritated. "Both of you, just sit down and shut up!"

Nathan and I stopped bickering and glowering at each other and turned to look at her, eyebrows raised indignantly. God, this woman was starting to sound more and more like my mother by the day.

"Wow. No need to keep your feelings in there," I remarked. "Please, feel free to continue talking to me like I'm a handicapped seven-year-old."

"Miss Riches, learn when to keep your mouth shut," Laura said through tight lips. I figured it was probably best to keep my mouth shut now, so I quickly sat back down in my seat, drawing my legs up and wrapping my arms around them, leaning my chin on my knee.

"Now, while I have already spoken to the press for damage control-" Laura began.

"Damage control!?" I interrupted. "What, how Daisy's death was a tragic accident, and all of us with powers mourn her heart-rending passing, but in the end it's just a way of showing that we are all still human and vulnerable?"

"Yes," she replied snappishly before turning to Nathan, who immediately stood back up and pressed his hands together. "The police are going to want to interview you again," she informed him. "But they seem to be satisfied that Daisy's death was an accident."

Nathan blew out a massive sigh of relief and threw out his arms, collapsing into an armchair. "_Thank you_. And I just wanna say, it's a tragedy, and no one is more upset about this than me," he said earnestly, pointing at himself. "But what's done is done. I think we should all move on. Huh? Stronger, fitter, wiser."

"This could only 'appen to you!" stated Kelly frustratedly.

"Is fucking up just a natural part of your everyday routine?" I interposed cuttingly.

"She was gonna cure the world!" added Curtis.

"Look, there's only so many times I can say I'm sorry!" exclaimed Nathan. "And if you're so cut up about it, why don't you-" he made an imitation of the noise Curtis made whenever he travelled back in time, following it up with a rewinding hand gesture. "-and fix this entire situation?"

"You know it doesn't work like that!" Curtis said angrily.

"I'm gettin' pretty sick of hearin' that," Nathan said.

"Prick!" Curtis spat, kicking Nathan's chair.

Laura suddenly stood up and went over to Nathan, standing over him and getting right up in his face. "You fuck up like this again," she whispered dangerously. "And I will finish you."

Nathan looked visibly alarmed. "I'll try not to."

"Don't," she said grimly, before straightening up and swanning from the room.

"So I'm assuming that was our cue to leave," I said lightly, trying to diffuse the tension that had settled over the room, to little avail.

* * *

Travelling back up to my hotel room in the lift with Nathan, I leaned back against the wall, suddenly gripped by a wave of nausea. _Oh Jesus. Not here. Not in the lift. Okay, just breathe shallowly_, I commanded myself, closing my eyes and trying to ignore the rocking feeling of the lift going up.

"What's the matter with you?" Nathan asked.

"Nothing," I muttered, now also trying not to breathe too heavily. "I just feel a bit sick."

"You look like you're about to hurl," he stated, side-stepping a couple of paces away from me. "If you do, mind the shoes. Apparently they're designer or some shit like that."

"Whatever," I mumbled, making a mental note to aim directly for Nathan's head if I did puke. But mercifully, the lift pinged to a stop and the doors slid open, and without bothering to say bye or anything to Nathan, I sprinted from the lift and straight down the corridor. I fumbled with my key for a good thirty seconds before I managed to ram it into the lock.

I pushed the door open and bolted into the room, ignoring Charlie's greeting calls. I locked the bathroom door behind me and bent down by the toilet, only just managing to avoid vomiting on the floor.

God, what was wrong with me? I'd been sick every morning- and sometimes during the day- for the last five days in a row. I must have come down with some kind of bug; that was the only explanation.

I seriously hoped this was the first and only time it would happen today. Nathan was shooting himself in the head tonight, and there was no way I was going to miss seeing him lying in a pool of his own blood and brain matter due to illness.

"Georgie, have you been sick?" Charlie asked worriedly as I emerged, pale and clammy, from the bathroom.

"Yeah, mate," I replied, curling up on the sofa next to him. "But I'm okay. Maybe I ate something funny yesterday. How was _Young Justice_?" I added.

"So good! It wasn't a new episode, I'd seen it before, but it was the one when there's an alien invasion, and the team has to replace the Justice League, but it's actually a situation made up by Miss Martian's dad, and Miss Martian's psychic powers made everyone forget it was all made up!" he answered eagerly, bouncing up and down in his seat slightly.

"I love that episode," I said. "Miss Martian is my favourite."

"Only because she's a _girl_," Charlie said, sticking his tongue out at me.

"That's not the point! Besides, who's _your_ favourite character?"

"Robin!" Another tongue-sticking-out. "Speaking of Robin, you promised we'd watch the _Teen Titans _movie, and then you said we'd watch _Star Wars Episode One_ before we go out tonight!" Damn it! I'd completely forgotten I was supposed to be taking Charlie with me to the community centre tonight. God, how fucked up was that? I was being forced into taking an eight-year-old to watch someone get shot in the head.

"Of course we can, sweetie," I said. "But remember. We need to be at the community centre by seven-ish, and you know I need an hour and a half for wardrobe, hair and make-up."

"Urgh, fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "Why do girls always take so long to get ready? When I'm older, I want a girlfriend who doesn't wear any make-up."

"Yeah, right," I snorted, rummaging in Charlie's little backpack for his _Teen Titans _DVD. "Good luck with that one, chum."

* * *

"Come on Charlie!" I shouted, tapping my foot impatiently! "Who's the one taking long now?!"

"I needed to pee! It's not my fault!" he shouted back, running over to me from the bathroom. I swooped down- being careful not to rip the extremely tight red shorts I'd been practically sewn into- and picked him up.

"Well don't you look handsome," I cooed while practically dragging him out of the hotel room. My style team had finished quickly with me for a change, putting me in these high-waisted shorts, a black silky blouse with the top three buttons undone and five-inch stiletto pumps, so they moved their attention to Charlie, Anastasia and Cassie making a fuss of him in particular. He'd looked extremely smug when they had chosen him his outfit, picking out for him a pair of cute kids' skinny jeans, a pair of black Vans and a white and red-striped polo shirt, and Jez had spiked his hair up with gel.

"Yes, I do," he said with a grin. Clearly he had gotten my sense of modesty as well as my conversational skills. "You look pretty too."

"Of course I do," I said as we ran down the stairs because I couldn't be bothered to wait for the elevator.

"Ow! You're jogging me funny and it hurts!" Charlie complained as I hurtled round the corner down the first floor stairway.

"Sorry chick, but we're gonna be late!" I said breathlessly, coming to a sliding halt in the hotel lobby, where I was met by a very pissed off-looking Laura, who practically manhandled me and Charlie out of the building and into a blacked-out Mercedes.

Half an hour later we were pulling up outside the community centre, which was completely buzzing. Oh God, there were paparazzi. I didn't care that Mum and Dad had given permission- I didn't want Charlie getting photographed. I was actually starting to get sick of all the fame, though whether I was just being negative because of my recent break-up was another thing.

Still, I opened the car door and gracefully (kinda) slid out of the car, taking Charlie by the hand and helping him out as well. I plastered a ridiculously false smile onto my face as I teetered into the community centre, ignoring the shouts from the paparazzi behind me of, "_Georgia, why did you and Nathan split up?!_" "_If you broke up with Nathan, why are you still coming to his show!?_" "_Is that your little brother?! How does it feel to be reunited with him after all this time!?_"

"No comment!" I screamed, slamming the doors in their faces.

"Why were all those people shouting at you?" Charlie asked me as we made our way around the maze that was the community centre, trying to find the appointed 'backstage' area where Nathan and the others would be. I answered vaguely, telling him that it was just to do with my power, while I still tried to find the room. The locker room was totally empty, and I eventually had to grab hold of a passing cameraman and ask him where to go.

It took five more minutes, but eventually the backstage room was found. I looked through the window, and sure enough, Nathan, Kelly, Alisha, Simon, Curtis and Nikki were all there. Curtis and Nikki were sitting on a sofa with their arms around each other, Kelly was leaning against the wall with a beer in her hand, Alisha and Simon were sitting together also by the wall, and Nathan was staring at himself in the big theatre-style mirror, and everyone was eating pizza aside from Curtis.

"Hey guys, sorry we're late!" I announced, opening the door and ushering Charlie into the room in front of me.

"Hey, you're actually here," said Nathan. "Didn't think you were gonna turn up after the hurling incident. Hey there, little guy," he added to Charlie, who ran over to him and climbed up onto his lap. _Oh, for fuck sake._

"You lying in a pool of your own blood and brains?" I smirked. "Now, would I really pass up the chance to see that? Well, unless maybe Christian Louboutin was offering me and only me an exclusive pair of shoes, but that's beside the point. Charlie, come here," I ordered, clapping my hands at him a couple of times.

"You're so fucked up," Nathan commented as Charlie clambered down and came over to me, though he did it very reluctantly.

"Easy there, boy," I said warningly. "I'm still considering running onstage and shooting you in the face myself." I then smiled sweetly and grabbed the last remaining pizza box, which mercifully had an absurdly cheesy pepperoni pizza nestled in it. "Aw, who ordered my favourite?" No one answered, so I sat down on the floor next to Simon and pulled Charlie onto my lap, handing him a slice of pizza and grabbing one for myself.

Despite trying to convince myself it was time to move on and forget that I loved Nathan, I found myself staring at his reflection more than once, and it was also on more than one occasion that I saw him staring back at me. I set my mouth in a forced smile again, and concentrated on making it look like I was helping Charlie with his pizza.

"If blowin' my brains out live on national TV doesn't get the ladies juiced, nothin' will," Nathan announced, staring at himself in the mirror.

"Well it's nice to know you've moved on so quickly," I couldn't stop myself from saying snappishly.

Ignoring me, Nathan took a swig of his beer, dumped it down on his dressing table and spun round in his seat dramatically, flinging his arms out. "How do I look?"

"Like a prick in a suit," Curtis cracked matter-of-factly. I was going to say a panda with a mop on its head, but that worked too. And even that was just to cover up how good I thought he looked.

"That's sexual jealously because of my prowess as a lover," riposted Nathan with a smirk.

"Is it true you shit yourself when you die?" Nikki asked him, so pokerfaced that everyone choked on their pizza as they laughed.

"That only happened the once!" Nathan retorted. "And I've got a bucket standin' by, just in case!" So this was officially a case of 'Too Much Information'.

Nikki, looking completely disgusted (clearly she needed some time to adjust to our little group), offered her slice of pizza to Curtis. "D'you want that? I just lost my appetite."

"Nah, I'm lactose intolerant," Curtis told her.

"Does that mean you're afraid of cows?" asked Nathan, in unison with my little brother.

"Wow," I said. "You two were clearly made for each other. Though it is concerning that you, Nathan, a twenty-two-year-old, is asking the same question as an eight-year-old."

Nathan still looked just as confused as Charlie did, and Curtis rolled his eyes. "No, it means I don't eat cheese or dairy products."

"Oh. I never knew that about you," Nathan stated with a raise of his eyebrows, and from everyone else's expressions, including my own, neither did anyone else.

"'Ave I got time ta go toilet before you shoot yaself?" Kelly asked suddenly.

"A piss, yes," replied Nathan, checking his watch. "A shit, probably not."

Kelly made a revolted face and stood up, brushing pizza crumbs off her dress. Alisha dumped down the slice of pizza she was holding and said, "I'll come with you." She gave Simon a small, earnest smile before standing up.

"Don't take too long," I said. "You don't want to miss the show."

* * *

Ten minutes passed, and Alisha and Kelly still hadn't come back from the toilet. Nathan got his three-minute call from someone in the camera crew, and he leapt up from his seat like a salmon, exclaiming, "Showtime, bitches!"

"Good luck!" Charlie piped up in his cute little voice, and everyone, even Curtis, went "Aww."

"Cheers, Char," Nathan said, ruffling Charlie's hair. Oh. I hadn't realised they were on nickname-basis now. GODDAMN IT. They'd barely known each other twenty-four hours! Charlie stood up to give Nathan a hug (inside I felt my heart break a little bit more) and Nathan winked at me (I stuck my finger up at him) before sauntering out of the room.

"So what channel are they broadcasting this on?" I said, standing up and turning on the little TV that had been provided for us.

"BBC One, I think," said Simon, finishing his beer.

"Righto," I said, turning on said channel. There was the sudden sound of a gunshot, followed by china breaking and a shriek of, "WHAT FUCKING PRICK DID THAT?!"

Nikki, who had been looking through the window into the main hall, turned to us in exasperation. "This guy really is the most unbelievable tool!"

"I told you," said Curtis, and I snorted, "Yep. If you're gonna be hanging around you _seriously _better start getting used to it, or the urge to kill him will become far too great."

"How the hell did you ever go out with him?" she asked bluntly.

"I honestly don't know," I lied. There was an unexpected text ringtone noise that rang through the room, and Simon grabbed his phone from his pocket.

"Who is it?" I asked. "Oh God. Has Alisha fallen down the toilet or something? Is that why they're taking so long?"

Simon looked completely horrified, and by way of answer he held his phone out to me. Frowning, I took the phone and looked at the screen. It was a text from Alisha that read, _If you want to see Alisha and Kelly again come to the hotel._

"What the fuck is this?!" I practically shouted, panic rising in my throat instantly.

"Georgia? Georgie, what is it?" Charlie asked worriedly, putting his arms around my waist.

"N-nothing, Smelly Cat," I said instantly, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"What's happened?!" said Curtis, standing up, and I handed him the phone. "Shit!"

"What's she on about!?" asked Nikki, who was reading the text over Curtis' shoulder.

"It's not from Alisha!" I spat. "They're in danger! We need to check the toilets! Now!" I bent down and took Charlie by the shoulders, looking straight into his eyes. "Listen to me! Charlie, Simon, Curtis, Nikki and I need to go and do something. It might be dangerous, so you can't come! Instead, I want you to go to the storage cabinet in the other room, pull down the screen, lock the screen and _hide there_! Do you understand me?!"

"Why?"

"Because I want you to stay safe!" I said, tears pricking at the back of my eyes. "I love you, Charlie! Remember that! I love you more than anything else in the whole wide world!"

"I love you too, Georgia!" he said tearfully, looking extremely worried, throwing his arms around my neck and squeezing. I hugged him tightly back.

"Remember, whatever happens, you're my little Loki baby, and you are burdened with-" I began.

"Glorious purpose," Charlie finished, sniffing, before turning and running from the room.

"Are you okay?" Simon asked me, putting his hand on mine.

"Yeah," I said, wiping away the one tear that had escaped from my eye. "Come on. We've got a rescue mission."

* * *

Curtis burst through the girls' toilet door first, followed by the rest of us. "Alisha? Kelly?" he said warily.

"Alisha!" I shouted. "Kelly!" While the boys moved more into the toilets to look, Nikki and I remained by the wall, too worried to go any further. Where the fuck were they!? Who had taken them!? Curtis started checking each individual cubical, while Simon bent down and examined a puddle of white stuff on the floor.

"What is that?" Nikki asked in muted panic.

Simon touched the stuff before smelling it slightly. "It's milk."

"That milk guy!" exclaimed Curtis.

"Oh my God!" I whimpered. "That baby-faced dairy twat has them!"

"We need to get to the hotel!" Simon said urgently, turning round to face us. Suddenly, Nikki started making some odd chokey-breathing noises. At first I thought she was hyperventilating, like I sometimes did when I panicked. Then she gasped, "Oh shit!" and it clicked. She was about to teleport!

"No!" Curtis and I both shouted. Curtis moved forward to grab her, but I got there first, grabbing hold of Nikki's hand. But instead of keeping her anchored down, I felt this sudden tugging sensation, and a blur of colours passed through my eyes. The next thing I knew, Nikki and I had flumped down on an oversized bed in one of the hotel rooms. Fuck.

I heard muffled shrieks, and Nikki and I both bolted into a sitting position. It was Alisha! Milk Kid had tied her up with loads of cling film, but Kelly was nowhere to be seen. He turned, looking shocked for a second to see us, but shock soon turned to rage, and he threw down the cling film in his hand, standing up.

Nikki suddenly started choking, not her teleporting-choking, but proper full-on 'I can't breath' choking. She started foaming at the mouth, and that was when I bolted.

I scrambled up from the bed and dropped to the floor on my knees. I started to run, but almost as soon as I did, Nikki's choking stopped abruptly, and I felt the sensation of something thick and gelatinous travelling up my windpipe, then suddenly going down again. I started choking then, and as I did, little flecks of cheese flew out of my mouth.

I couldn't breathe, my legs going jellified, and I collapsed barely two metres away from the door. I tried to gasp out a scream, but all I felt was something thick in my chest, like it was in the very bed of my lungs.

"Does that feel peculiar?" Milk Kid asked me almost soothingly, crouching down near my head.

"Fuck…you…you…cunt!" I managed to get out, trying to swallow the glutinous feeling in the pit of my throat.

"That's the mozzarella from your pizza," the kid told me. "It's gradually filling your lungs, drowning you slowly. You're dying, little Fire Girl."

Black spots started bubbling up over my vision, and my head was feeling really heavy. So this is what it felt like to die. Well this totally fucking sucked.

There was so much I never got to do. I never reached my nineteenth birthday. I never got to visit Los Angeles. I never went to see a catwalk show at New York Fashion Week. I never got to get married. I never got to reconcile with my family. I never got to have a baby. But the worst thing, the very worst thing about this whole fucked up situation wasn't that I was going to be dead in a matter of minutes. No.

It was that I had never gotten the chance to tell Nathan that I loved him.

I wanted to say all this out loud, but the darkness was threatening to overcome me. So instead, all I said was, "See you…in hell…fuckface!" My voice came out choked, and that was when I knew it was over. So much I never did. So many things that I never said. And now...now I never would.

* * *

"_Your eyes, your eyes.  
I can see it in,  
Your eyes, your eyes.  
You make me wanna die._"  
**-The Pretty Reckless, "Make Me Wanna Die"**

* * *

**A/N- So that was sad to write. I mean, obviously shit all gets worked out in the end, but that doesn't stop it being miserable to put into words. Did you like it? Were you sad!? Would it be wrong for me to say I hope so? Either way, let me know! Review, review, review guys! Y'all are fabulous! Also, who likes the new cover photo? Xx Gee xX**


	39. Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye My Friend

**A/N- So guess what? With this chapter I'm bringing you not one, but TWO- yes, **_**two**_**- points of view! Nathan's **_**and **_**Simon's! 3rd person, but still. I hope they turn out alright. Let's give some thanks to dustdancingintheflickerlight, meganlloyd16, Becca, solarflares, therealjainasolo, just-another-teenage-dirtbag, DreamBigAndBeUnique, ****eruditenerd and Beebopalula**** for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Nine- Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye My Friend**

_**~Nathan's POV~**_

Dying was so fucking uncomfortable. There was that flash of pain for a split second, then total darkness. But before he actually died, there was always that goddamn underlying feeling that he might not actually wake up again, like it was a whole 'nine lives' kinda thing. And finally, a couple of hours later he'd wake up panting like a fish out of water, usually coated in blood or whatever it was that had killed him.

Today, however, Nathan wrenched his eyes open to find himself still slumped down in that clear glass cabinet thingy, the back wall of which was completely fucking coated in bits of his brain. His beautiful brain…speaking of which…

Nathan had a quick peek at his faint reflection in the glass. Yep, face still all there, gunshot wound totally healed. Obviously. One of the many perks of immortality- the effects were never permanent.

He gingerly climbed to his feet, only to realise he was facing away from the cameras and was looking at that massive ketchup-looking stain of his brain matter. He quickly righted himself and spun round to face the audience and cameras, plastering on that award-winning smile of his that all the ladies loved.

"And that, boys and girls, is how you shoot yourself in the head!" he announced cheerily. "I wouldn't recommend tryin' it at home!" The audience broke out into the cheering and the clapping and the whooping. One of the camera people gave him the signal to leave, and he made his way out of that cabinet and into the crowd of adoring fans- which was mostly made up of girls in their mid- to late-teens, he noticed- all of which were begging him to sign random body parts and t-shirts and bits of paper, but as Nathan looked around he noticed a distinct gap in the crowd. Actually, make that 'gaps'.

No Barry, no Curtis, no Girl-Whose-Name-Escaped-Him-But-She-Had-A-Heart-Tr ansplant-And-Was-Now-Banging-Curtis. No Georgia either, and no Georgia's mini-me, Charlie. That was weird. Jesus, like they couldn't have hung around after he'd shot himself to make sure he wasn't actually dead for a change. Now that was just plain fucking rude.

Nathan hung around the fans for ten more minutes, still signing away, posing for pictures and shaking hands, before making his way back to the locker rooms. Was it weird being back there? Only a fucking lot. Nathan never got all mopey and reminiscent-y, but for some fucked up reason, he couldn't help it as he looked around the ol' locker room, and he found himself staring mostly at locker 40. Georgia's old locker.

He'd fucked up big time with her. Usually when he cheated on a girl, they didn't find out. And usually, he didn't feel bad. But when he'd woken up next to those two girls, and heard Georgia come in, the only feeling he'd felt was guilt. Pure, undiluted guilt.

Did he blame her for breaking things off? No, not really. Georgia had never exactly been one for keeping her feelings in, had she? But all her screaming and crying had had nothing on the look she'd had in her eyes when she had dumped him. It was a pained, cracked look, like her heart had broken then and there. Then she had said it. The four words she could probably never take back.

"I fucking hate you!"

Tons of girls had said that to him in the past, usually when they realised that, no, he wasn't going to call them back. But again, it had never bothered him. Then a couple of months ago, Georgia had come along, with her long dark hair, bright blue eyes and glare that could sour milk in three seconds flat. At first, Nathan had only wanted to fuck her because it was so obvious that she really didn't like him. He liked a challenge once in a while, and that's all she had been. A challenge.

Then came the friendship. Over those weeks, the two of them actually managed to become friends. Nathan had obviously still wanted to fuck her- what sane guy wouldn't?- but he found himself focussing less on that, and more on actually Georgia as a person.

Then something had really changed between them, around the time those Virtue virgins had turned up. Nathan had no idea what happened, whether he first started to fancy her, or she first started to fancy him. Either way, feelings had reared their ugly head somewhere in that fucked up, dysfunctional friendship, and turned everything upside down. The rest of it was history.

It was the fame that had done this, that had helped him fuck everything up so royally. At first, yeah, it had been awesome. Georgia had seemed totally in her element in those interviews, posing away in front of the cameras like she was fucking Kelly Brook or something, with her hair newly half-chopped off and dyed black and red, dressed in them sexy outfits that Laura made her wear. The shorts, the tiny little skirts, the deliciously low-cut camisoles that she was always in. He missed that. He missed her.

She confused him, to be perfectly honest. How she could go from being all giggly and mental and just generally acting like a teenage girl, to being so angry it was like someone had stuck dynamite in her head, to being all hot and sultry and sexy. Maybe she had one of those split personality disorders.

Jesus, had it really only been two days since they broke up? It seriously seemed like longer. Yesterday at that lunch thing, Georgia had desperately been putting on an act that she was okay, but Nathan had seen right through her. He could see the pain in her eyes. Pain that he had put there. Urgh, again with the guilt. He thought he'd exorcised all of that.

But suddenly Georgia's brother had been catapulted back into her life, and for the first time that day, Nathan had seen Georgia genuinely smile. Seeing Georgia with Charlie actually put some more pain into Nathan's heart, not that he could understand why. Usually, he hated kids. They were loud, annoying, in your face. But there was something about Charlie that just made him loveable. Maybe it was because he was so like his big sister.

Nathan had distractions; namely the gaggles of barely-legal groupies hammering at his (metaphorical) door. But wasn't it ironic that the only barely-legal girl he wanted was the one who was nowhere to be seen. Barely-legal. Okay, that sounded kind of weird and paedophile-y. It was easy to forget Georgia was only eighteen, when she sometimes acted so much older. Even with her brother, she seemed more like Charlie's mum than his sister. She'd make a good mum, one day. Just not with Nathan as the kid's dad.

God, Nathan hated emotional moments like this. They were rare, and they were fucking irritating. So to distract himself, Nathan started taking off his tuxedo, the collar of which was plastered with dried blood. Thank God it wasn't him who had to pay for all the clothes and shit, or that would have been one seriously expensive shirt down the crapper.

He threw on some old jeans and a t-shirt that he'd left in his locker. He started doing a little dance, whistling as he did so, whilst putting on his deodorant and looking at himself in the mirror. A slight flash of red and black moved in his peripheral vision, and he suddenly caught sight of Georgia's reflection behind him. Well _she _was certainly the last person he expected to see. She stared at him in the mirror, looking a hell of a lot more serene than she had over the last forty-eight hours.

"Jesus, Georgia!" Her appearing out of nowhere had made him jump slightly, knocking his locker door shut. "So you're actually still here, then. I can't believe you missed me in my crownin' glory. It seemed to me like the whole 'shootin' myself' part was the bit you were most lookin' forward too. Anyway, you might wanna fuck off outta here," he added, somewhat defensively. "I'm expectin' some seriously horny, barely-legal groupies knockin' on that door any second. And yes, I know it's kinda soon after us, but you said it yourself, movin' on is the best thing to do." Okay, she hadn't said that, but her memory was like a sieve at the best of times. She wouldn't know he'd made that up.

"They're walking into a trap," she said gravely, ignoring him. Okay, that was weird. Georgia was never, ever grave. Or serious. Or anything that didn't involve her either laughing and/or swearing.

"What's that?" he said blithely, checking his hair in the mirror.

"Oh my God, Nathan, will you pull your head out of your arse for five minutes and just _listen to me_!" she suddenly shouted, sounding a lot more like her regular pissy self. "That milk guy! He's got Alisha! And he killed Nikki, and I think he killed Kelly as well!"

"_What_? When did this happen?! How d'you know that?!"

"Wait! Just listen!" she pleaded. "He killed me too, Nathan. I'm fucking _dead_."

Nathan abruptly turned away from the mirror, giving her his full, undivided attention. "Okay, that's funny. No, really. Tell another joke, and this time make it one that doesn't involve you sayin' stupid shit like that."

"I'm not joking, Nathan," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm really honestly dead. Milk Kid's gone totally off his nut. He'll end up killing everyone. Curtis, Simon, Alisha, Charlie. Everyone."

Nathan felt sick. Sick to the pit of his stomach. There was an ache in his chest that felt like a cross between total numbness and unbearable fiery pain. "You're dead?" he repeated, starting to feel something pricking at the back of his throat. Ah, fuck. Tears.

Georgia nodded slowly and sadly. "Yeah, Nathan. I am." A single, solitary tear dripped down her cheek. Who knew ghosts could cry?

"How the-? What the-? How the fuck did that happen?!" Nathan spluttered.

Georgia snorted, wiping away the tear. "He drowned me by moving the mozzarella from my pizza into my lungs. I know, right? How fucking ridiculous can you get? Y'know, I always assumed I'd die because of something like a bar brawl, or getting dramatically gunned down in an alley. Death by cheese is too embarrassing to have written on a gravestone."

"This isn't happenin'!" Nathan cried out in a voice that didn't sound like his own in any form. This voice sounded desperate, sounded pained. "You're not dead!" But as he looked at her, looked at her pale face and remorseful expression, he knew that she was. Georgia was dead.

"You are dead," he said again. "Aren't you? You're actually dead."

"Again, yes. It's not like I want to be, believe me," she said, smiling at him. "Because as far as I can tell, I'm gonna fade into total nothingness. So that sounds fun."

"How can you stand there and fuckin' joke about this?!" Nathan shouted at her, some of his pent-up emotions starting to bubble over. "You're fuckin' dead, Georgia!"

"Look, we can stand here discussing the fact that I'm no longer living, or we can get down to all the important, heart-wrenching shit that happens in the movies," she said, trying and failing to sound light-hearted.

For a change, words totally failed Nathan. He didn't know what to say, or what to do. How the _fuck _could Georgia be dead? She was permanent. Like cement, or a mustard stain. She was always there, even when you didn't want her to be. Accepting she was gone was like accepting that he was never going to see her again. And yes, he was fully aware that they were basically the same thing.

The ache in his chest had gone, and had been replaced with just numbness that radiated all over his body. He wanted to reach out, to hold her, to stroke her newly Gothic hair one last time, but he knew that there was no point. She was a ghost. She wasn't solid. He'd just pass straight through her.

As if she knew what he wanted, she took a few steps closer to him, so their toes were barely five inches apart. She raised her arm up slightly and placed her hand on Nathan's arm. He couldn't feel her physically, but instead felt a kind of warm energy there. It was enough to make a couple of tears escape, no matter how hard he tried to keep them down.

"Look after Charlie for me," Georgia said. "If he asks where I went, tell him…tell him it was time for me to go up to God."

"You don't believe in any of that Christian shit," Nathan mumbled, fighting to keep his voice steady.

"No, I don't," she concurred. "But Charlie does, and if that belief is what will get him through this, then who are we to stop that? Tell him I love him. Tell him I love my little Charlie more than life itself. Wow. Feeling the irony there."

Nathan nodded, still unsure what to say. "Okay."

"I love you as well, Nathan. I love you so much. I was so scared to tell you; I was scared you'd leave me. Even after the thing with those girls…I always knew that it was a stupid mistake. I never should have broken up with you. It just made me feel terrified that you didn't love me back, like it confirmed it. I'm so sorry, babe. I'm sorry I was so stubborn. I'm sorry I was so jealous. And I'm sorry I was just so stupid." She'd said it. The L word. She loved him.

"I can't fuckin' believe I'm about to say this to a fuckin' ghost," he said quietly, a few more tears coming out. "I love you too, George. I'm sorry for all the shit I've put you through. Those girls meant nothin'. You were the only one I ever cared about." He didn't even give a shit that he sounded so desperate. Georgia's death had stripped him off his outer defences, of his sarcasm, of his stupidity, of his over-the-topness, and left him broken.

Georgia smiled sadly, looking up at him through her eyelashes, which were spiked with ghostly tears. "I think that's all I really came back for."

"Oh, _hell_ no. No, no, fuckin' _no_! We have not just gone through all that for you to just fuckin' disappear into the atmosphere, or whatever the hell it is that ghosts do!" he angrily exclaimed. "You're gonna tell me how I can fuckin' fix this!"

"Well, I wouldn't object to you sticking a knife in that kid's eye-" she began maliciously, then shook her head. "No, actually, bad idea. God knows what he could do to you. Even _with_ your immortality."

"I'm gonna find Curtis, and I'm gonna fix this," he told her, trying to ignore the damaged quality of his voice. "But first I'm gonna kill that little baby-faced bastard. He's gonna know a whole new world of pain!"

"Don't do anything stupid, Nathan," she said, shaking her head. "He's dangerous, no matter how deceiving his looks are. And if there's one thing I really want to come out of me dying, I want it to be that you actually listen to me for a change and stay safe."

"No. I'm fixin' this. I'm gonna find Curtis and _make _him turn back time and sort all this shit out! We're gonna be fine, you and me, and that past-me had better fuckin' realise that you're the best fuckin' thing that's ever happened to him!"

"You can try, but maybe it's time to realise not everything is fixable, Nathan," she said gloomily. "I'm just glad I've got to say everything I wanted to. I love you," she said again, and before Nathan could even reply, she faded slowly but surely into the air in front of his eyes, until there was nothing left of her. Nothing left of the only girl Nathan had ever loved.

Rage boiled up inside his chest like a volcano, and he let out a single scream. His legs seemed to give way, and he collapsed back on to his closed locker, sliding to the floor. Now he was crying- really crying- for the first time in about twelve years.

For fuck sake. Crying wasn't going to do anything. Crying wasn't going to bring Georgia back. Nothing could do that. But finding that little twat and beating the living shite out of him was sure going to make him feel a bit better. He was going to find the kid, and he was going to kill him. The kid would resemble an undercooked pretzel by the time Nathan was done with him. He scrambled to his feet, wiping away his tears angrily. That lactokinetic moron would _pay_.

The walk back to the hotel passed in a blur. All Nathan could feel was grim determination through his body, making his blood feel like it was boiling. He could see people giving him strange looks as he pushed his way past them, not that he cared. The only thing and only person he cared about was dead, and all that was on his mind was her and making the dickhead who had killed her pay for it.

Once in the hotel lift, he punched the button to take him up to the floor his and Georgia's rooms had been on then glared ruthlessly at the doors. Lactokinesis Boy appeared in front of him almost as soon as he stepped out of those same doors.

"You nipple-sucking, breast-feeding momma's boy!" Nathan snarled at him, but the boy just stood there with a cruelly placid facial expression. "You killed her!" Nathan made to surge forward, ready to pretzlefy the twat beyond recognition, but there was suddenly the weirdest feeling forming in his back, like a rope had been forced down his spinal cord and was pulling him backwards, preventing him from reaching Milk Kid.

He tried to lunge forward a couple more times, but every time he did, he felt his legs steadily going jellified again. His mind was going murky, and his legs gave way for the second time that night.

"Does that feel strange?" the kid asked patronizingly.

As Nathan stumbled down into a doorway, landing in a sitting position with his legs splayed out, he was vaguely aware that Milk Kid was looming over him, a scary-calm smile on his pale, ugly face. The fading feeling in his head was intensifying, but he glanced up at the boy and threw him an approximation of a sneer.

"You can't…k-kill me," he choked, struggling to breath properly. "I'm…im-mor-tal." Boom. Take that, motherfucker. Choke him and choke him and choke him again if you wanted, by Nathan Young was always comin' back.

"I'm not _trying _to kill you," Milk Kid told him superciliously. "That's the mozzarella wrapping itself around your central cortex." The boy made a single joyous, malevolent laughing noise. "You're gonna spend the rest of your life as a vegetable." And with that final fatal comment, Milk Kid departed from sight.

Any ability to move vanished in that instant, just like everything else was vanishing. Now he couldn't even die properly. The hallway was disappearing in front of him. First the edges of his vision started going black, then the middle started disappearing with it. He could barely form a single sentence within his almost completely addled brain.

The last thing he heard in his mind was Georgia's voice. _I love you as well, Nathan_. Then there was nothing. Just blackness.

* * *

_**~Simon's POV~**_

This was extremely dangerous. Simon knew that. He'd _tried _to stop Curtis, but of course, once Curtis had his mind set on something, it was futile trying to talk him out of it. Curtis had run off ahead once they'd seen the lactokinesis boy, Brian or whatever his name was, in search of Nikki, Alisha and Georgia.

That left Simon alone, wandering down an empty corridor, searching for the girls himself. Oh, why did the hotel have to be so _big_? There must have been hundreds of rooms that they hadn't looked in.

A sudden idea occurred to him. Call one of them! He'd hear the ringtone if they were on the same floor he was! Simon pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the first number on his contacts list- Alisha.

Alisha. The girl he was destined to be with- literally. Simon was surprised that he had been so shocked by the news that the guy in the mask had been his future self. It obviously had been someone who knew them all, who knew what was going to happen. Well who better than someone who had already lived it?

He'd seen enough sci-fi movies involving time travel- _Terminator_, _Star Trek_, _Back To The Future_- to know that it had to happen. To know that he had to become that person. And Georgia…Georgia had known as well. How she'd managed to keep something that big a secret, Simon couldn't begin to guess. It really had taken him aback when Alisha had informed him of that little fact.

Alisha…Georgia…they were the reason he was here. He pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear, waiting for it to connect.

_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring._

It was coming from a room in front of him. The girls were near! But why wasn't Alisha answering her phone? Simon started jogging up the corridor, the sound of the ringing getting gradually louder. But as he turned the corner…

"Nathan?" he called, spotting the familiar worn-out white Converse poking out from a doorway, indicating that Nathan was sitting down. When he didn't reply, Simon hurried over to him, crouching down in front of him.

At first, he thought his friend was just asleep. Nathan's head was lolled to the side, resting on his shoulder. But when Simon gently tilted Nathan's head up so he could see his face, he understood what was wrong with sickening realisation. And nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Nathan's vacant, empty eyes. The spit drooling from his agape mouth. The flopping quality of his body. There was no sign of life in him, other than the irregular breathing, shown by the rise and fall of his chest. It was like Nathan was a shell. He was alive, but he wasn't. His heart was still beating, but all brain activity was dead. Nathan's mouth moved slightly, trying to form the words that would never pass.

"Nathan," Simon mumbled, appalled that someone could do something like this- damage someone so permanently. If that boy had done this to Nathan, who couldn't die, Simon suddenly feared the worst for the girls.

The girls…Alisha's phone was still ringing almost desperately in the background. Clambering to his feet, Simon followed that ringing until he found himself in one of the hotel rooms, the door of which was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and hesitantly walked inside. What he saw made him feel sick to his stomach.

Nikki, sprawled on the bed, and Alisha, collapsed on the floor by the coffee table, bands of cheese blossoming from their open mouths. Dead. Both of them were. Unmoving, unbreathing, unseeing.

Georgia lie sprawled out just by the door, eyes wide open, but glazed over. She was dead. Just like the others. But even in death, her face still had an aura of self-confidence and arrogance to it. Even her eyes, despite their glassy appearance, held the look that Georgia had when she was pretending to concentrate but in actuality had no idea what you were talking about. She had worn that expression many times when she and Simon had been talking.

Cheese was streaming from her nose, indicating that it had been in her lungs not long before she died. She had drowned. The milk boy had drowned her using the cheese from her pizza. How _sick_.

Georgia was dead. Simon's best friend, the one person who had really been there for him since community service had started, was gone. There'd be no more of her wisecracks, no more of her laughter, no more of her "_Seriously, Simon?_"s. The lactokinetic boy had silenced her forever.

But even seeing her like this, seeing his best friend lying deceased in front of him, was nothing compared to how he felt seeing Alisha's lifeless body. He crouched down next to her, gently lifting her up and holding her close. He could touch her. A muted sob caught in his throat, but he wouldn't cry. Because he would find Curtis, and he would fix this.

All the sorrow he was feeling started pooling in his chest. He could almost physically feel it changing into rage. Simon had never felt pure hatred before, but he was certain that the metaphorical searing feeling in the back of his head was it.

He leant down and pressed a kiss to Alisha's forehead, before gently lying her back down and covering her beautiful face with his denim jacket. He then went and kneeled down by Georgia, gently closing her eyes with his thumb and forefinger. This was it. The moment he was ready to face his destiny and become who he was fated to be, to become the boy Alisha had fallen in love with. He stormed from the room, pulling the hood of his black jacket over his head as he did so, in search of the boy.

It was almost laughable how quickly he found him, and Curtis too. It was the boy's voice he heard first, a taunting tone that came from the hallway ahead of him.

"…get noticed," he was saying. "Is when we kill a shitload of people." He could barely keep the glee out of his prepubescent-boyish voice. Simon quickly turned invisible, knowing things would go wrong very quickly if the milk boy saw him. He rounded the corner, and saw the boy advancing on Curtis, saying, "They'll talk about this for years. They'll talk about _me_! Monsieur Grand Fromage."

Simon started running then, being careful not to make too much sound. He could see in the boy's eyes that he was about to- literally- move in for the kill, especially when the boy's features arranged themselves into an amused smile.

"That cheese shit won't work on me, dickhead!" Curtis growled. "I'm lactose intolerant."

The boy's smile faltered, and he was now glaring at Curtis with such malice that it made Simon's insides feel like they had curled up in fear. Then the boy suddenly produced a knife from his dinner jacket and spat, "Then maybe I'll just have to stab you instead!"

The boy thrust the knife forward at exactly the same time Simon flung himself in front of Curtis. The knife drove deep into Simon's chest, and he saw the boy stare in shock at what obviously looked like a floating knife. Then Simon cried out, and he felt himself become visible again.

He grunted in pain and collapsed against the wall, looking at the knife. He could taste blood in his mouth, and he watched as the boy turned on his heel and ran from sight. Curtis was staring at him in horror, clearly unsure what to do.

"They're all dead!" Simon told him, his breathing becoming laboured. "Nikki, Alisha, Georgia. They're dead! You have to save them! We have to go back to before we were famous! We have to stop him! Do it!"

The pain was intensifying, and he knew he didn't have long. But he looked up at Curtis, who looked instantly repentant, and everything suddenly froze.

* * *

"_Only know you've been high when you're feeling low.  
Only hate the road when you're missing home.  
Only know you love her when you let her go.  
And you let her go._"  
**-Passenger, "Let Her Go"**

* * *

**A/N- Okay, so this is one of the chapters I think I've worked on the hardest! So many goddamn feels! What did you think? I hope nobody seemed out of character, especially Nathan, but I did feel that he would change slightly if something this big happened. So tell me your thoughts! I want to know every little detail of what you liked or hated! Please, if ever you were going to leave a detailed review, please let it be now! Xx Gee xX**

**PS- One hundred and thirty reviews, guys! How totally fucking awesome is that! I love you all! I wish I could hug every single one of ya! In fact…*hugs all of you***

**Chapter title reference: Lyrics from the James Blunt song, "Goodbye My Lover".**


	40. A Highly Important Author's Note

**To my dearest readers,  
**

**This author's note is coming at you from my aunt's laptop in one of the few times I have WiFi. I'm sure you're all wondering why I haven't update this story in two weeks. The reason is simples:**

**My house caught fire and the top floor of my house totally fucked up. Ironic, isn't it, considering Georgia's power. Anyway, that's not important. Where was I? Oh yeah. **

**My laptop was on said top floor of house, and I had to send said laptop away for cleaning and stuff because the fans were clogged with soot and shit. But guess what. My laptop was fucked too, so I have to get a new one, meaning I'll most likely lose all the data from the chapter I had been writing. **

**While I may be able to recover it, I still have no actual internet connection at home, so I guess I don't actually know when I'll next be able to update. But as soon as it's possible, chapter forty will be up and kicking. But until that time arrives, I felt you deserved to know. ****I love you all, and hopefully I'll be returning soon with a shiny new chapter for y'all.**

**May the force be with you,  
Xx LittleGee xX**


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